After trading textbooks for their respective weapons to train for this year’s Summer Olympics, both foilist Emily Cross and epee fencer Benji Ungar were hoping for good news this past week.

Unfortunately for Ungar, only Cross was rewarded for her efforts, landing a spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team headed to Beijing.

The official announcement will be made following this weekend’s national championship.

Ungar finished third in the pool of American fencers, a mark that would normally be good enough to send a fencer to the international competition.

However, because the U.S. team did not place in the top eight in the world, only the No. 1 fencer in the American field qualified.

Cross, on the other hand, made sure even the team’s spot couldn’t impact her trip to Beijing, winning the U.S. competition to solidify her qualification.

She currently stands at No. 12 in the world.

Cross and Ungar are no strangers to international competition.

After leading the Harvard fencing team to its first-ever national title in 2006, both fencers headed to the Junior World Fencing Championships, where Cross picked up her second consecutive gold medal, and Ungar notched a bronze for himself.

—THE CRIMSON STAFF