BROOKVILLE, N.Y. -- Sophomore Ketki Ketkar was the headliner for Cornell fencing, taking first out of 54 competitors in epee during Sunday's NCAA Northeast Regionals from the Pratt Recreation Center on the campus of Long Island University. Ketkar's victory solidifies her spot in the 2024 NC Fencing Championships, which will run March 20-23 from the French Fieldhouse on the campus of the Ohio State University.

Ketkar breezed through the second round of competition, posting a 6-0 mark with a +14 touch differential to sit first overall heading into the third round. The third was like clockwork for the sophomore, recording the second-highest touch difference to slide into the round-robin finals. And despite losing two duals, Ketkar came out on top, finishing four touches ahead of Ivy foe Mina Yamanaka to take gold in her first appearance at regionals for the Big Red. 

Clarice Lim made it to the third round of regionals, earning 15th overall to match her place from last season. Nora Weber also impressed in her first trip to the qualifiers, having to fencer her way out of the first round before finishing 18th overall. Emma Ni closed out the squad with a 30th-place finish.

Moving to sabre, Keona Moya took sixth out of the 43 competitors with the weapon. Making her second straight appearance at regionals, Moya needed to fight her way into the second round, which she did by going 3-1 with a +10 touch differential to earn fifth and move into round two. The sophomore would continue her march towards the top of the leaderboard with a 4-2 record and +8 touch advantage to move up into the third round, a round that saw her chances of going to the NCAA championships end last season. However, she did not let that happen again, slicing through with a 3-3 record to take the second-to-last spot for the final round-robin portion, where she went 6-5 and had a -2 touch differential. 

Isabela Carvalho also impressed in her first regionals appearance with an eleventh-place showing. The freshman made her way into the third round with a 3-6 showing and +3 touch difference before following that up with a 4-6 record and a +2 difference to grab ninth after three rounds and make the final round robin alongside Moya. Carvahlo would struggle in the final, going 3-8 with a -15 touch differential. Sterre Hoogendoorn (14th) and Stella Berman (16th) rounded out the four competitors for the Big Red, making it to the third round but falling short of the finals. 

Finally, four more Big Red athletes suited up in foil for Cornell, each making it to at least the second round. Renata Chusid led the foursome by finishing 14th overall, improving her 22nd-place showing from a season ago. Junior Rei Weintraub followed, finishing 23rd in her second appearance at regionals. Senior Asherah Horsley (31st) and sophomore Mia Jo (33rd) filled out the request of the qualifiers for the Big Red with the weapon.

Eight fencers placed in the top 20 over the three weapons for the Big Red, the most since all 12 entries finished in the top 20 during the 2021-22 season. 

UP NEXT
The NCAA will release its list of qualifiers for the 2024 NC Fencing Championships on Tuesday afternoon on NCAA.com.