W. fencers poised for success

By Joseph Boonsiri

After dominating performances in their 22-5 win over NYU and 19-8 victory over Cornell, the women's fencing team appears poised for another run at the Ivy title. With 28 years of coaching experience at Yale, Coach Harry Harutunian helped the Elis pull off the easy victories.

The team remains aware of challenging opponents who will come later in the season. "So far there has been no big threat for us," Harutunian said.

"After a few months with [Ha-rutunian], people who have never fenced before are winning varsity bouts," Captain Zane Selkirk, PC '04, said. "Everyone returning feels better about their fencing."

STEVE YBARRA/YH With two dominating wins, Yale is on track for an Ivy title that just escaped the Bulldogs last year.

Combined men's and wo-men's practices provides a variety of combat styles and develops ad-aptive skills. "If you get stuck in a single style, you risk facing an opponent that knows how to defeat that particular style," Selkirk said.

The women's team hopes to capture the Ivy League championship, which they lost to Princeton last year in a bitterly contested meet. With a deep team, the outlook seems better this season. "It is difficult to quantitatively gauge how much a team has improved, because [fencing] is such a mental game," Erica Korb, TC '05, said. "I can tell, though, that the team has improved greatly since the very beginning of the season."

Korb, a fencer of seven years, will provide experience in the epée squad. This season is Korb's first on a fencing team, though she has traveled to two international tournaments in Germany, competing as an individual. "In fencing, you need to be strong, fast, and fit, but emotional preparedness and a mental toughness are also required to be successful," Korb said. "Being on a team helps me with [the mental aspect] because [my teammates] are always supporting me and cheering from the bench." Korb and teammate Sada Jacobson, MC '04, plan to travel to the the Junior World Cup Championship in Buda-pest over winter break. The team also expects a significant boost when Helen Liu, MC '02, an integral part of the women's squad returns from a knee injury.

The squads anticipate challen-ges from St. John's, UPenn, Columbia, and Princeton. "We have many tough opponents ahead," Selkirk said. "Princeton is not our only rival, though it may seem that way because they are always the last team we play in the Ivy League championship."

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