NEWARK, NJ—The NJIT women's fencing team will have eight fencers representing NJIT in the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Fencing Championships to be hosted by Moravian College in Easton, PA on March 12-13.

NJIT will have two fencers – sophomore Jule Shigihara (ranked #10) and senior Michelle Potestio (ranked #36) competing in the women's foil competition.

Shigihara, from Bonn, Germany, captured the Regional Open Circuit (ROC) Division 1A title, becoming the second NJIT athlete to win at a Regional Open Circuit.  She finished with a 15-3 overall at the Eric Sollee Invitational, leading the foil team to a 6-3 victory over Haverford.  She defeated Haverford, MIT and Stevens 3-0, and Brandeis, Brown and Boston College 2-.

Shigihara was named to the CollegeFencing360.com Primetime Performers Honor Roll (January 22), for her performance at the DeCicco Duals hosted by Norte Dame on January 16.  She lost only one of her 16 bouts in the foil strip and recorded a 68-25 edge in total touches and her only loss came from All-American Zuzanna Sobczak from Wayne State.

Shigihara swept all her bouts against the top-ranked host Notre Dame, and yielded only two touches against both Lawrence and Detriot Mercy, with whom she went 3-0 against.

In the women's epee – Julia Garcia (ranked #10), Maria Sztan (ranked #22), Rebecca Richmond (ranked #36) and Abigail Bazile (ranked #37) will represent the Highlanders.

Garica, a sophomore from Madrid, Spain, became the first NJIT female fencer to compete in the National Championships and newest NJIT All-American after a second-place performance last season.

At the FDU Invitational, Garcia recorded a 13-4 record while posting an impressive14-3 mark at the DeCuccio Duals hosted by Norte Dame (January 16).  She guided the Highlander epee squad to wins over Haverford (5-4), MIT (6-3) Stevens (5-4) and Brown (6-3).  The sophomore went undefeated against MIT and Brown while going 2-1 against Brandeis and Boston College.

Sophomore Katarina Jevtic (ranked #37) will be the lone Highlander competing in the women's sabre.  Kaelyn Gamel will be NJIT's third alternate at the championships.

There are 4 rounds at Regionals.
Round 1:

The top 12 fencers have a bye
4 pools of 6 fencers
12 fencers advance

Quarterfinals:
4 pools of 6
18 fencers advance

Semifinals:
3 pools of 6
12 fencers advance

Finals:
1 pool of 12