Dec. 4, 2007

JERSEY CITY, NJ - Junior Grace Fried (Forest Hills, NY/Stuyvesant) finished as the runner up in the Foil at the 76th annual NIWFA Christmas Invitational last weekend. In all, the Blue Jays had five finalists in the three weapons, including three of nine in the Foil.

Joining Fried in the finals of the Foil, were sophomore Katie Kim (Garden City, NY/Garden City) and freshman Sofia de Benedictis (London, England/Chelteham Ladies' College). Fried lost in the championship bout to Samantha Myles of Temple. Hopkins was the only school to three finalists in the Foil. Also competing in the Foil were sophomore Samantha Dolan (S. Pasadena, CA/S. Pasadena) (15th place) and freshman Michelle Gulino (Brooklyn, NY/Convent of the Sacred Heart) (41st place).

"This was the most hard fought final in the last few years," said head coach James Murray. "The bouts between Fried and Myles were very closely fought."

In the Epee, senior captain Cindy Liu (Walnut, CA/Walnut) finished in eighth place. Sophomore Ying Guo (Fargo, ND/Fargo South) (21st), freshman Molly Schwartz (Potomac, MD/Winston Churchill) (25th) and Aliza Fishbein (Potomac, MD/Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School) (27th) also competed.

"Cindy had a very solid, very even performance all day," Murray said.

And in the Sabre, freshman Alysson Mondoro (Holmdel, NJ/Holmdel) led the Blue Jays with a ninth place finish. Classmate Mary Vitale (Hampton, NJ/Voorhees) finished in 16th with Rose Foran (Los Angeles, CA) taking 23rd and Adiya Katseff (Manalapan, NJ/Freehold) finishing in 28th.

"Alysson was a beginner in September," said Murray. "So for her to make it to the finals of such a big event says a lot. We can't wait to see what she'll do next."

Hopkins is off for the remainder of the calendar year and returns to action on January 12 at the Penn Multi Meets.