Dec. 7, 2004

Freshmen Rachel Cota and Melanie Bautista finished 1-2 in the women’s foil competition while sophomore Jesse Laeuchli was the runner-up in the open epee competition, as part of 21 Notre Dame fencers who competed in the Culver Cup this past weekend (held at nearby Culver Academy). The tournament gave the Notre Dame reserves a chance to experience full tournament action while fencing against competitors from a variety of levels.

Three other Notre Dame fencers posted top-four finishes: senior foilist Tiffany Muller (3rd), senior epeeist Rebecca Chimahusky (3rd) and junior foilist Andrew Zodda (4th, in mixed foil).

Laeuchli was one of three Notre Dame men’s fencers among 25 competitors in the open epee, as were junior Craig Brede (9th) and senior TJ McNally (12th). Four other Irish men’s fencers – junior Jack Goetz (11th), freshman Joseph Hagmann (12th), senior Paul Reyes and sophomore Patrick Donnely – competed in the 19-fencer mixed foil. Three Notre Dame fencers finished in the top eight of the mixed sabre – junior Matt Doherty (5th), sophomore Ryan Bradley (6th) and junior Alex Schumacher (8th) – with sophomore Jason Laws (9th) and senior John Espinosa (12th) also competing in that 33-fencer field.

Junior Monica Real was one of four Irish fencers to compete in women’s foil, as were senior Jocelyn Landgraf and sophomore Anna Rodriguez in women’s epee and sophomore Erin Housing in women’s sabre. Each of the women’s events featured 10 or fewer fencers and thus those individuals also competed in the open event.