March 17, 2007

Madison, New Jersey -

Four Tar Heel fencers have qualified for the National Collegiate men's and women's fencing championships. Drew University will host the championships at the William E. and Carol G. Simon Forum and Athletic Center, March 22-25, in Madison, New Jersey.

Those Tar Heels participating in the event include sophomore sabre fencer Robert Ziechmann(51-13), senior epee fencer Courtney Krolikoski (47-30), freshman foil fencer May-Lynne Chen-Contimo (59-27) and freshman sabre fencer Jenn Sawicki (25-13).

Speaking to the Regional play, UNC assistant fencing coach Josh Webb stated that "for the weekend we did well. We put three women in the finals of the women's sabre. Most everybody met their potential. It was just a much harder field than they had been use to fencing but they did well. It looks good going into next year especially on the women's side because of the group that qualified for the Regionals this year we are graduating maybe two."

Webb also noted that with the group going to the Tinals, "Bobby will do well.He has done well all year. As long as Courtney stays focused she will be okay. She has some big wins against the field that is going. The freshman May-Lynne and Jenn, will be participating in their first NCAA tourney and I think they will be okay after moving through the excitement of the first day and afterwards they will settle down. I am looking for good things out of this group because they are probably an overall stronger group that we have had advance in the past couple of years especially on the women's side.

For further information concerning the NCAA Fencing tourney click here.