Randy Alevi '10 and Dan Mahoney '07 qualified for the NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championships with a strong showing Sunday at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. At the tournament, hosted by Tufts University, Alevi gained an automatic berth to Nationals, and Mahoney earned an at-large bid. Alevi and Mahoney will compete against the best collegiate fencers in the country at Drew University in Madison, N.J., starting March 22.
"This is a tremendous result," said Head Coach Atilio Tass. "The team did very well. They were very focused and prepared. Given the nature of the very high quality of the opponents, I think we did very, very well."
Alevi automatically qualified for the national championships by finishing in the top eight in the women's saber event at Regionals, capping a highly successful freshman year. She posted Brown's best Northeast Fencing Conference record, 29-3 - earning the title of NFC Fencer of the Month for November along the way - then finished 9-8 in Ivy League competition.
"It's pretty exciting, but it's nerve-wracking at the same time," Alevi said. "It wasn't really sinking in before, but now I really have to start training hard. Still, I'm really excited just to be able to go."
"It was my goal the whole season to qualify for Nationals," she added. "It is by far the high point of all my fencing."
For Mahoney, competing at Nationals will be the culmination of a stellar career. But earning the berth was no cakewalk. Mahoney was not one of the top eight finishers who automatically qualified out of the Northeast. Instead, he finished 11th and earned the second at-large bid for the region - a long shot to qualify for Nationals. But when the selections were announced on Tuesday, he learned he would be one of 24 saberists to compete in the national championship.
"I am absolutely thrilled right now," Mahoney said. "Making Nationals has been a goal of mine for the past four years, and after Sunday at Regionals, I didn't think I did it."
"Making it was very surprising because I was not only an at-large, but I was the second at-large out of the region, so I could only get in if the first one got in and I got in as well," he added. "It happened, and I'm so excited about that. I just found out quite recently, and I'm just thrilled."
Sending two fencers to the national championship is a big step up for the fencing team - last year, only epeeist Ruth Schneider '06 qualified for Nationals.
This year, several fencers came close to making Brown's national championship contingent even bigger.
"We had a couple other people that were very close but didn't quite make it," Mahoney said. "So it's nice that not only do we have more people going, but we're in a position where we're putting up more people who have the chance to go."
Three fencers received at-large bids but fell short of advancing. Foilist Nick Bender '09 finished in 17th place in men's foil and received the first at-large bid. Both foilist Kirsten Lynch '10 and saberist Deborah Gorth '09.5 received the second at-large bid for their weapons, finishing in 11th and 13th places in their respective events.
"I am hoping that admissions will get the people I need for the team, but certainly it is a very, very good continuation of the good results of the fencing team," Tass said. "I think it was a fantastic season this year. We are building a good foundation with a consistent level of competition and are looking forward to next year."
