On a day when the four Brandeis fencers who potentially qualified for the NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championships overcame several obstacles, none came further than epée Caitlin Kozel '09. Despite initially being seeded 22nd out of 39 women's epée competitors due to her regular-season record, Kozel went all the way to the final round of last Sunday's Northeast Regional Fencing Championship and eventually finished in fourth place, a performance that propelled her to the region's seventh seed and her second straight NCAA Championships appearance.

"She was attacking a little more, mixing up her defense," coach Bill Shipman said. "She was very relaxed and her point was on. She fenced the best she had all season."

Kozel could be joined by up to three members of the men's squad. Foil Will Friedman '09 secured his own bid by also advancing to the final round, where he finished in seventh place to grab the region's seventh foil spot.

Captain and foil Eugene Vortsman '08 and saber Adam Austin '11 remain under consideration for at-large bids. Vortsman claimed the 11th seed in the region after a 12th-place tournament result, while Austin finished as the 13th seed in the saber division. The NCAA will reevaluate the strength of Vortsman's and Austin's opponents' over the season before deciding today whether they will qualify.

The NCAA holds four regional tournaments throughout the country, with 24 fencers per weapon qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Qualification is based both on regular-season success and regional tournament finish. The regional consists of three pool rounds and a final round-robin tournament.

Kozel began the day as one of the tournament's lower seeds, but she finished 4-2 in her first-round pool with a touch differential of +8 to advance to the second round. Once she got there, Kozel imposed her will on the competition, winning all four of her bouts to emerge victorious from her second round pool. Her only close bout was against Columbia rookie Martyna Urbanowicz, who she beat 5-4.

"I was just taking it one round at a time. I didn't have any faith about taking out any of them [in the second round]," Kozel said. "My most memorable match was against [sophomore Rebecca] Moss from Yale. She's a normally good fencer, but she was a head case. One of the girls beat her earlier, so by the time it was my turn, [Moss] was already a mess."

Kozel then secured her NCAA Championships berth in the next two rounds. She first advanced to the finals by winning three of her four bouts in her semifinal pool, and then won five of her 10 bouts in the final pool to secure her fourth-place finish.

On the men's side, Friedman earned his third consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships despite struggling at times during the tournament. Seeded 11th going into the preliminary pool, Friedman won just two of his five bouts, but advanced in the 19th of 20 spots due to his +2 touch differential. In the second round, Friedman was nearly eliminated again, as he won just one of four bouts in his pool, but his -5 touch differential was enough for him to slip into the final spot of 15.

"[Friedman] didn't fence his best, but he managed to fence a little better each round to advance from one round to the next. He was just a little bit off at the start, but his style was very strong and fenced well in the finals," Shipman said.

Friedman returned to form in the semifinals, going 3-1 and finishing in fourth place with +2 touch differential, losing only to Columbia junior Sherif Farrag 5-2. Though Friedman finished 4-6 in the finals, it was more than enough for him to qualify for the NCAA Championships again.

"I approach Nationals as a wholly unimportant tournament," he said. "I think that qualifying is an honor in and of itself. It would be great to do well at Nationals, but winning Nationals is an unrealistic goal."

Like Friedman, Vortsman reached the semifinals, but he missed the cut to advance into the final pool by failing to win his last semifinal bout. Austin was winless in his four semifinal bouts, but he is eligible for an at-large berth because three schools had more than two automatic foil qualifiers. No team can send more than two members per weapon to the NCAA Championships.

Several other Judges came close to qualifying. Foil Jessica Newhall '09 fell three spots short, finishing 13th place in the foil division. On the men's side, the epee squad, which led the Judges to a 16-1 record to start the season, qualified no members. Will Bedor '10 came closest with a 19th-place finish, while Damien Lehfeldt '09 and Andrew Travis '10 were 23rd and 25th, respectively.

The NCAA Championships will be held in Columbus, Ohio from March 13 to March 16.