Men and Women's Fencing began its 2002-03 season Saturday at the New England Fall Collegiate Tournament, held in Northampton, Mass. This tournament, an individual rather than a team event, was the first of approximately 20 fencing meets in which the Judges will compete this year.
Brandeis fencers had considerable success at the meet. Several fencers from both the men's and women's teams placed in their respective events: Rookies Jeremy Simpson '06 and Kristian Cardillo '06 both placed second - Simpson in saber and Cardillo in foil- , Keith Allen '04 placed fourth in saber, Jessica Lewis-Turner '04 placed fifth in epe and Meredith Freedman '05 placed seventh in saber.
"It was a good tournament to start the season," Coach Bill Shipman said.
Shipman would know; he has been Brandeis' fencing coach for 21 years, and coaches both men and women. He is exigent with his fencers, holding practice every afternoon and expecting each individual to attend at least four to five practices per week. This degree of hard work and dedication is necessary in order to achieve the agility, mental composure and speed that make for a successful fencer, according to Shipman.
Brandeis fencing is also a particularly demanding sport due to the field of competition in which these athletes find themselves. NCAA fencing, unlike most collegiate sports, is not divided into Division I and Division III based on the size of the student body. As a result, Brandeis competes against much larger schools than itself, making the competition all the more fierce.
"More than half of our schedule is teams from Division I schools," Shipman said.
Regardless, he is optimistic about this year's prospects. "I think we'll have a pretty good year," Shipman said. "We have a good freshman class and we have a good core returning. We have a few spots where we're kind of thin, where we don't have much depth, but if everyone stays healthy and doesn't get injured, we should do pretty well."
The team will have a chance to prove itself at the New England League meet to be held on Saturday, Nov. 16 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.