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Irish join St. John's as only schools with 12 fencers for NCAAs (March 22-25 in Kenosha, Wis.).

March 16, 2001

The Notre Dame men's and women's fencing teams received good news on Friday in their quest for capturing the combined NCAA championship, as the NCAA selection committee awarded Notre Dame the maximum 12 fencers for the NCAA championship field, with the four-day event to be held March 22-25 in Kenosha, Wis..

Notre Dame and St. John's were the only schools to qualify 12 fencers, followed by Stanford and Penn State with 11 each and Princeton with 10. Notre Dame finished as the NCAA runner-up to Penn State in each of the previous five NCAA meets, after winning the combined NCAA title in 1995.

Qualifiers from the top-ranked Irish men's team include foilists Ozren Debic (the 2000 NCAA runner-up) and Forest Walton, epeeists Jan Viviani (who placed third in the 2000 NCAAs) and 1999 All-American Brian Casas, and sabremen Andrzej Bednarski and Andre Crompton. Bednarski earned All-America honors in 1998 and 2000 while Crompton will be the lone Irish men's fencer making his NCAA debut.

NCAA participants from Notre Dame's sixth-ranked women's squad will include foilists Liza Boutsikaris (a 2000 All-American) and Maggie Jordan, epeeists Meagan Call and Anna Carnick (both All-Americans in 2000) and sabres Carianne McCullough and Destanie Milo. Jordan and Milo will be making their first trips to the NCAAs after strong freshman seasons with the Irish.

Penn State qualified two fencers in every weapon but women's epee while Stanford qualified just one men's sabre.