“In my bouts, personally, I wasn’t that satisfied with how I fenced today, but I’m really excited to qualify,” van Loon said. “It was a really long day, and you get really mentally tired. Everyone who won their events today, I’m blown away by their performances. I have no idea how they managed to stay strong like that.”

Men’s sabre came up with a medal, while women’s sabre failed to do so. Sophomore Alexander Ryjik took to the medalists’ podium after securing the silver, while his teammate, junior Eric Arzoian, fell just shy of medaling after finishing in fourth place.

Although women’s sabre did not bring home a medal, sophomore Kara Lee and freshman Aliya Itzkowitz clinched top-10 finishes at fifth and sixth, respectively.

“I think one of our strengths is that we have a really organized schedule, and everyone really works hard and supports each other,” Woo said. “Everyone cares about the sport and really shows how much they care by working hard in practice…. I think we’re just going to keep at it like that. I think knowing that NCAAs are coming up, people are going to give a little extra effort.”

The 11 national qualifiers will travel to San Antonio, TX the weekend of Mar. 21-22.

“I think we’re all going to try to work really hard to fence a lot,” Vaggo said. “Looking forward, we are trying not to think too much about [NCAA Championships] but also work hard…maybe work on some things that we found this weekend that weren’t working for us. We’re staying positive, and we’re all really excited to go.”

—Staff writer Kelley Guinn McArtor can be reached at kelleyguinnmcartor@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @CrimsonKGM.