Physics freshman second female fencer from 鲍鱼直播 to win Quebec title
MONTREAL 鈥� Erin Olson, an 18-year-old science freshman from Minneapolis, Minn., became the second 鲍鱼直播 woman ever to win a provincial Triple-A title at the Quebec Fencing Federation championship, a tournament hosted by the Club d鈥檈scrime Lagard猫re in Montreal on Sunday.
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The 5-foot-6 physics major won all of her 14 bouts over the weekend to finish first of seven competitors. After going 12-0 in the preliminary round-robin, she defeated fourth-ranked Sophie Couture of Club d鈥檈scrime Coeur de Lion 15-8 in a semifinal and then beat second-seeded Erika Timoshenko of Coll猫ge Br茅beuf 15-6 in the final to capture the women鈥檚 sabre title.
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Olson's victory was the first medal performance in two years for the 鲍鱼直播 fencing team and the first gold medal since Alex Zarama won the 2005-06 AAA championship in women's foil. Zarama went on to serve as coach of the 鲍鱼直播 team the following season.
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鈥滶rin鈥檚 performance was impressive, especially for a freshman,鈥� said 鲍鱼直播 coach Andrew Dathan-Frankel. 鈥淪he combines exceptional听aggressiveness听with blinding speed and perfect execution. She听overwhelms听her opponents by exploiting minor errors and preempting their opportunity to begin an attack.鈥�
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Olson won two of three head-to-head meetings with Timoshenko over the season. Previously, Olson had finished second to Timoshenko in a Jan. 24 rendez-vous but she battled back to win the Feb. 21 competition, held in St. Jean sur Richelieu.
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"Erin鈥檚 contribution to the team outside of听competition听was equally important," added Dathan-Frankel. "She only joined us this year, but immediately took charge of the sabre squad by leading drills, encouraging new recruits to compete in the weapon, and advising less听experienced听fencers. As my coaching expertise听is limited to 茅辫茅别 and foil, her听complementary听contribution was invaluable. I have no doubt that she will play a major role in shaping the team during her next three years at 鲍鱼直播."
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The differs from the other modern fencing weapons, the and , in that it is possible to score with the edge of the blade. For the other two weapons, valid touches are only scored using the point of the blade. Like foil, sabre uses the convention of to determine who acquires the touch.
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It marks the second major achievement this season for the 鲍鱼直播 fencing program, which also made news last November when Vincent Larochelle of the men鈥檚 squad, won a Rhodes Scholarship.
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SOURCE: Earl Zukerman Communications Officer Athletics & Recreation 鲍鱼直播 475 Pine Avenue W., Montreal, QC听 H2W 1S4 CANADA 514-398-7012 (Tel.) 514-398-1956 (Fax) www.mcgill.ca/athletics