Both finished the pool with 10-4 marks but since the individual title cannot be awarded on touches according to tournament rules, they had to fence a final bout to determine the winner before Birney came out on top to take the individual crown for the first time.

"We were all cheering for Harvard," Hughes said. "It was a fantastic weekend. We performed better than we had in the past."

No less impressive was Hughes performance. Fencing from the second alternate spot, she ended with a mark of 7-7.

"I wasn't fencing as well as I should have been [during the season]," Hughes said. "I finally pulled my act together."

Sara Crasson, Harvard's fourth representative, entered the individual competition suffering from a wrist injury which she aggravated in the team competition on Saturday and was knocked out in the first round with a 2-3 mark.

With their finishes, Birney and Danics have guaranteed themselves two of the seven spots allotted to the northeast region in the 24-seed individual competition. This will be Birney's third appearance at the nationals, after finishing 20th in 1992 and 24th in 1993.

Since regional results and season record determine individual berths, Hughes finish in the regionals put her in contention for one of the other five spots.

Crasson's season record may also be enough to earn her a berth in the individual tournament.

"I think we were really intense going in," Hughes said. "We were all fencing very well and we had great results.

"To do that, we all had to be fencing very well. It was a strong performance for the whole team, and we're very pleased with the effort."