Seven freshmen among the 12 that will compete for the Irish next week at Stanford.

March 16, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- The Notre Dame men's and women's fencing teams have qualified the maximum 12 fencers -- including seven freshmen -- to participate in the 2000 NCAA combined men's and women's fencing championship March 23-26 in Stanford, Calif. Penn State, Princeton and Stanford join Notre Dame as the only schools to send two fencers in all six weapons to the NCAA championships. St. John's will send 11 fencers, while Columbia and Yale each have qualified 10. Teams will be awarded one point for each victory by a fencer during the championships, which consists of 144 fencers and 24 in each weapon. The Irish have finished fourth in each of the last four years.

Sophomore All-American Brian Casas and freshman Jan Viviani have qualified for the men's epee competition. Casas finished eighth at the 1999 NCAA championship in his first season, while Viviani will be making his first appearance. A pair of freshmen will represent Notre Dame in men's foil, as Midwest champion Ozren Debic and Forest Walton have earned spots. Sophomore All-American Gabor Szelle -- the 1999 runnerup -- and junior All-American Andrzej Bednarski have earned sabre spots.

Freshmen Meagan Call and Anna Carnick have qualified for the women's epee championship. Senior All-American Magda Krol and freshmen Liza Boutsikaris will participate in the women's foil competition. Krol, the 1997 NCAA epee champion, will make her fourth appearance but her first in foil after fencing epee in her first three seasons. Freshman Natalia Mazur and junior Carianne McCullough have qualified for the first ever NCAA women's sabre championship.