Princeton's six women's competitors compiled 60 bout victories Thursday to lead the field as the NCAA Championships at Ohio State.
Princeton is four bouts ahead of Penn State and seven in front of Ohio State.
A year ago, when Princeton was on the path to its first NCAA joint men's/women's title, Princeton's men led off the competition by winning 51 of a possible 90 bouts on the first day.
Sophomore saber Gracie Stone won 12 of her 15 bouts, behind only Adrienne Jarocki of Harvard, who won 13. The top four in each weapon will be eligible to fence for the individual NCAA title. Fellow saber senior Diamond Wheeler won nine of her 15 bouts to stand in seventh place.In the same position as Stone is senior epee Susannah Scanlan, who also won 12 of 15 bouts to stand one win behind leader Vivian Kong of Stanford. Junior teammate Katharine Holmes won nine bouts to stand in seventh place.
Both Stone and Scanlan advanced to the medal round last year, Scanlan finishing second and Stone third.
Junior foil Ambika Singh won seven bouts to place seventh with classmate Sharon Gao placing 11th with eight victories.
Three of the first five rounds of the women's competition were contested Thursday with the final two rounds, which account four eight bouts for each fencer, getting underway at 9 a.m. Friday. Once the round-robin is completed, the top four fencers will compete in 15-touch bouts for the national title beginning at 1:30 p.m.
