Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Three Tiger Fencers Compete on Opening Day of NCAA Championships
March 23, 2007 | Men's Fencing
MADISON, N.J. -- Thomas Abend, Alejandro Bras and Tommi Hurme are midway through their competition at the NCAA Championships, which began Thursday in Madison, N.J.
Princeton has one competitor in each of the three weapons, and all three are competing in 23 individual bouts with the other qualifiers in their weapon. The four who finish with the highest number of wins after that state of competition will enter a four-man bracket to determine the individual champion.
Just more than half of those individual bouts were contested Thursday with the others to be completed Friday. Hurme, a junior, stands sixth in the epee with a record of 9-5 and 10 bouts to go. The top four in the current standings all have 10 or 11 wins, and ties in total number of wins are broken by the difference between the number of touches scored and touches received in the five-touch bouts.
In the foil, senior Bras is 21st with a record of 4-10, and in the sabre, rookie Abend is 23rd with a record of 2-12.
The finishes add up to a 12th-place standing for the Tigers as a team of the 24 schools competing. The overall team standing is a combined men's/women's total, and the Princeton women will get underway Saturday.