Feb. 7, 2007

Going into the Duke Invitational, the Air Force Fencing team, coming off a successful record at the UC San Diego Meet last week, is setting its sights on North Carolina this weekend.

Looking Ahead
The Falcons will travel to Durham, N.C. to compete in the Duke Duals, Feb. 9-10. The men's team will compete against Notre Dame, North Carolina, Johns Hopkins and Duke on Friday. The women's team will compete against the same schools on Saturday.

"Our team dynamics are fantastic, the best I have seen yet at the Academy. We support each other and cheer for each other. We warm up together. All in all, I think the fencing team has excellent leadership with seniors Lydia Bigelow and Nate Smith as team captains, and they set the precedent for professionalism and high performance," said AFA junior Eliza Enyart.

Coming off a 15-3 record at the UC San Diego meet last week, Smith is excited for the Duke meet but is reflective about his performance in San Diego. "In all three of the bouts I lost I know I could have fenced better. I felt in control of the action but I made some mistakes that could have been avoided. It was more a matter of me maybe missing a touch and the other guy getting a default point, or me just making a few errors that cost me the bout. I am very confident that I can do well at regionals this year judging from the level of competition at San Diego," said Smith. " Duke will be a much tougher tournament, and should look a lot more like the level of competition I would have at nationals."

Following the Durham trip, the Falcons will participate in the USFA National Junior Olympics, Feb. 6-19. The NCAA West Regionals are March 10-11 in San Diego. The 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Championships are March 22-25 in New Jersey.