Nov. 30, 2006

NEWARK, NJ - Sabre rattling is not usually considered a good thing. But there will be plenty of purposeful sabre rattling, not to mention competition in the foil and epee in New Jersey Institute of Technology's Estelle and Zoom Fleisher on Sunday, December 3, when NJIT hosts the 74th annual NIWFA Christmas Invitational fencing competition.

The event, sponsored by the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association, will involve competition in three weapons among 159 fencers representing 17 colleges and universities. The all-day event involves competition in the foil (53 entrants, with eight alternates), sabre (50 entrants, with six alternates) and epee (56 entrants, with seven alternates).

Schools expected to be represented are: CCNY, Drew, Fairleigh Dickinson, Florida, Hunter, Johns Hopkins, Marist, Maryland, NJIT, Queens, Smith, Stevens, Stony Brook, Temple, Tufts, Virginia, and Yeshiva.

The Christmas Invitational is an individual event for collegiate women hosted by the NIWFA on the first Sunday in December. Each member college/university may enter a maximum of six foil, six epee and six saber fencers in the annual event.

The competition in each weapon is conducted in a round robin format to a final of six fencers. Fencers eliminated in the first round compete in a consolation round. Each entrant is thereby provided with at least two rounds of fencing competition. The six finalists are awarded Julia Jones Medals. The Evelyn Terhune Trophy is presented to the winner of the foil event. The first-place epeeist is awarded the Betty Santelli Trophy and the saber champion, the NIWFA Trophy.