HOBOKEN, N.J. – Eastern Women's Fencing Conference commissioner Damion Jones has announced the choice of Haverford College senior Anna Neuheardt as the winner of the league's 12th annual Woman of the Year Award. This prize -- implemented to recognize the fencer who best combines the triple standards of success in athletics, excellence in academics, and participation in extracurricular activities -- was decided through a postseason vote by the EWFC's eight head coaches.
Neuheardt is the second women's fencer in program history to receive this prestigious honor as Emma Buckingham '10 is a former winner of this award. In addition to Neuheardt's success in both academics and athletics, head coach Chris Spencer noted that his senior leader meant so much more to the Fords then just a sabre ace throughout her career.
"It was Anna's work as a team leader and captain, behind the scenes and off the strip, that earned her this award. This year's team was a young and inexperienced, and she forged them into a fighting force. This was obvious to all when a sabre squad composed only of walk-on first-years defeated Vassar at the EWFC Championships. Anna wasn't on the strip, but they wouldn't have won without her."
An Economics major from Littleton, Colorado, Neuheardt wrapped up her four seasons as a sabre competitor during the 2018-19 season. The team captain for the Fords missed much of her final campaign but was a three-time second-team EWFC All-Star in 2016, 2017, and 2018. She also closed out each of those years by placing in the Top 30 at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals and finished in the Top 10 at the NIWFA Championships on all three occasions as well.
Neuheardt's achievements in the classroom resulted in her selection to both the NIWFA All-Academic Team and the Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Team. Her extracurricular activities include participation in Haverford's Strength & Conditioning Committee, Residential Life Committee, and First-Year Orientation Committee, while also serving as a Resident Advisor and an Archivist in the College Library's Quaker & Special Collections Section.
Seven student-athletes earning EWFC Woman of the Year honorable mention nods are Johns Hopkins University junior Erin Chen (Sabre / Molecular & Cellular Biology), Stevens Institute of Technology senior Amanda Choy (Epee / Business & Technology - Marketing & Information Systems), Drew University senior Caitlin Kotz (Foil / Biochemistry & Molecular Biology), Yeshiva University junior Batsheva Lasky (Epee / Nursing), City College of New York senior Nemesys Perez (Foil / Biology), Hunter College senior Michelle Rangel (Sabre / Behavioral Neuroscience), and Vassar College senior Mirit Rutishauser (Foil / Environmental Studies).
The Eastern Women's Fencing Conference wrapped up its 19th season of competition in February. Charter members City College of New York, Hunter College, Stevens Institute of Technology, and Yeshiva University were joined by Drew University for the 2002-03 championships, Haverford College in 2005-06, Johns Hopkins University as of 2007-08, and Vassar College during the 2014-15 campaign. JHU won its record-breaking seventh team title, and second in the last three years, with a 7-0 mark in this winter's league matches.