PHILADELPHIA – In its first event of the season, the Cornell fencing program turned in several strong performances at the 41st Annual Temple Open Invitational on Saturday at the Liacouras Center. The Temple Open is one of the largest collegiate fencing opens in the country featuring hundreds of student-athletes from across the country. In total, 10 Cornell fencers placed in the top 15, with five placing in the top 10.
 
Competing in her first collegiate fencing invitational, sophomore Keona Moya placed third in Sabre out of 82 fencers. Moya defeated Northwestern's Sky Miller, a four-time USA Fencing All-American, 15-4, to advance to the semi-finals. Miller was the NCAA runner-up in Sabre a year ago. Freshman Sarah Lacson finished in sixth-place, falling in the quarterfinals to eventual second-place finisher Zoe Turner. Also with top 15 Sabre finishes were senior Gillian Harrill (10th), junior Amit Hanadari-Levy (14th) and freshman Emma Brown (15th).
 
Senior Megan Eno started her season strong, taking fifth in Epee after advancing to the quarterfinals. Freshman Emma Ni (11th) and junior Gabrielle Hill (15th) also placed in the top 15 for the Big Red. Eno and Ni were unfortunately placed on the same side of the bracket in the elimination round, facing one another in the round of 16.
 
Freshman Rei Hosono paced the Cornell Foil's with a ninth-place finish on Saturday, losing a close 15-10 match that would've sent her to the quarterfinals. Hosono edged Northwestern's Alyssa Chen in the round of 32, 15-14. Junior Madeleine Nishimura took 15th in Foil, defeating the top-seeded fencer in Northwestern's Elina Moon (15-11) along the way.
 
Final Results
Sabre (out of 82)
Keona Moya – t-3rd (Bronze)
Sarah Lacson – 6th
Gillian Harrill – 10th
Amit Hanadari-Levy – 14th
Emma Brown – 15th
Stella Berman – 22nd
Esther Bentolila – 26th
 
Epee (out of 87)
Megan Eno – 5th
Emma Ni – 11th
Gabrielle Hill – 15th
Caroline Lee – 26th
Clarice Lim – 27th
 
Foil (out of 95)
Rei Hosono – 9th
Madeleine Nishimura – 15th
Alicia Hao – t-24th
Brianna Parris – 28th
Molly Veerkamp – 36th
Jessica Rosberger – 45th