Seven members of the fencing team competed in the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals on Saturday at Haverford College, with five men and two women closing out their seasons.
Six of the seven Leopards competing had experience on this stage, having battled at last year’s regional meet.
“It was a lot easier going in this year than last year, because we had a better sense of what to expect,” sophomore epee Hilla Wetherill said.
The top Leopard finisher of the day was sophomore sabre Nikita Kogan, who placed 26th out of 39 competitors in the men’s sabre. Classmate sabre Jordan Ginsberg followed closely behind in 29th, with both him and Kogan tallying four victories on the day.
“I know I can compete at that level,” Ginsberg said. “It’s just about staying focused and not really worrying about the negatives throughout the season, really just focusing on what I can control.”
The epee squad saw senior Tyler Morse and sophomore Ryan Leibowitz secure three wins apiece, finishing 30th and 33rd out of 46 competitors, respectively. In women’s epee, Wetherill placed 38th in a field of 46 with two wins herself.
Wetherill described the jump from regular‑season meets to regionals as “a lot more serious.”
“The best of the best qualify for regionals,” she said. “You really want to show that you earned your place there.”
In men’s foil, freshman William Nicoll earned two victories to place 35th out of 46. Sophomore foil Zoe Lenz delivered two victories of her own in the women’s field, earning a 33rd-place finish.
The competition caps off a tumultuous season for the Leopards that saw longtime head coach Dayn Derose step down, leading into a two-month vacancy that was filled by Christopher Spencer in February.
“It’s not what we expected or hoped for the season,” said Wetherill, one of the team’s captains. “That also put a lot of pressure on me, Jordan, Zoe and Tyler, the other captains, to kind of step into that coach’s role. Now that we’ve made it through this difficult period and we have a coach again, I think we’ll be a lot closer moving forward and heading into next season.”
Ginsberg shared that optimism as the Leopards embark on an eight-month offseason until the new season in November.
“It’s really just exciting, because seeing everything we accomplished this year without a coach gives us even more hope for next,” he said.