The day is not done, but it looks like Harvard will qualify 12 fencers, as well. Unless they are able to get one of the two wildcards (unlikely) for men’s saber, Columbia will likely only qualify 11. No other teams will have 12 fencers qualified.
Doing it by eye, but it apears ND and Harvard are the only 2 Teams with a full complement of 12.
USA Fencing (on social media) compiled a list of qualified fencers and confirmed that Notre Dame and Harvard are the only schools who qualified 12 fencers. Columbia, Penn State and Princeton all qualified 11 fencers followed by St. Johns and Ohio State who each qualified 9.
We are in a good position to win a 4th national championship in a row, but Harvard will be tough. Plus, one of the teams with 11 qualifying fencers could have a great showing and pull into contention.
Someone mentioned that some elite college fencers might take off the year to prepare to make the Olympic team, HVE WE LOST ANY TO THIS ROUTE?
Officially, Chase Emmer (men’s foil) and Kaylin Hsieh (women’s epee) took the year off to qualify for the Olympics. A third, Eszter Muhari (women’s epee) had to leave after first semester to join the Hungarian Olympic squad’s effort. All 3 were pivotal in the National Championship last year. Qualifying 12 this year is a testament to the depth of the ND fencing team.