On Feb. 18, 2020, Brie Mauer ’20, Julia Calventus-Coveney ’21 and Kimberley Kimura ’23 received Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) All-Star Honors, a title awarded to excellent fencers each season. Furthermore, Wellesley Fencing’s coaches were awarded “Coaching Staff of the Year” for the women’s division. Then, on Feb. 22, they became known as the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Champions. The fencing team posted pictures of themselves on Instagram with the caption, “Well, Blue, we did it! Wellesley Fencing is now BACK-TO-BACK NEIFC Champions! With 8 individual medals, 3 squad awards, and the award for being the TOP women’s 3-weapon team, we had an INCREDIBLY successful day.” It is safe to say that Wellesley Fencing’s hard work this season has paid off.
The NFC hosts three conferences per season, which serve important events for fencing groups across the east coast. The conference’s mission statement is, “ … . . . to support intercollegiate fencing in and around New England. The league organizes a round-robin schedule of dual meet competitions for the fencing programs at all member institutions.” It is evident that these are very important wins for the Wellesley Blue.
According to the Wellesley Athletics Fencing site, Mauer finished the season with an 81.25 victory percentage, Calventus-Coveney had a 79.41 victory percentage and Kimura had a 76.75 victory percentage. When asked about her fencing background, Calventus-Coveney said that she has, “been fencing since my early teens. What brought me into fencing was the need to fill up an hour after school with one last extracurricular activity — aside from the other four sports I was already playing — and holding a sword was something new and different; a unique conversation starter!”
For the team, the wins are a huge morale booster. Calventus-Coveney is proud of how far her team has come. “The Wellesley fencing team is the biggest and loudest it’s ever been, and you can tell by the way it’s been increasingly gaining more and more recognition from the Athletics Department — a big shift since my first year here, three years ago. It’s an amazing accomplishment that every single one of my teammates, past and present, should be proud of.” The team’s members are very proud of how far they have come. Sejal Saxena ’23 says that, “I’m so grateful to be a part of Wellesley Fencing. It has been amazing in so many ways. It’s truly a huge family on campus. Our coaches — Rob, Elif and Andrew are such motivating forces. As a team we train together, eat together and have so much fun.”
The team has worked very hard to achieve what they have. Saxena says that, “After our back-to-back wins at NEIFCs, I am psyched and super proud of our season so far. I think we have been improving our technical skills, training hard and competing well. It’s great to be a part of this solid team and I’m thankful for everyone.” She hopes that they continue with this inertia of victory, and keep their undefeated champion streak.