Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area Release

PHILADELPHIA – Haverford College women's fencer Amira Abujbara has been voted to the 2016-17 Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area at-large team. The all-area team is voted on by the sports information offices of the 29 area institutions from the Philadelphia metropolitan area.

The at-large teams take into account those student-athletes from area schools whose sports do not have a dedicated Academic All-Area team. In order to be eligible for Academic All-Area honors, an athlete must be in at least his or her second year at the institution and hold a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20 or better.

Abujbara, a team co-captain and foilist for the Fords, is also a member of the Qatar national team. Her honor marks the third straight season a women's fencer at Haverford has earned inclusion on this team. Her most memorable week of the season came when she took an individual bronze medal at the GCC Fencing Championships for Qatar. That same weekend, she traveled back to the United States and won five bouts for her team at the Drew Invitational.

The Fords' foilist also tied for her weapon squad lead with nine wins out of the "B" pool at the NIWFA Championships and was subsequently named to the NIWFA All-Academic Team. Abujbara also recorded 10 wins for Haverford during the team portion of the EWFC Championships. She was honored as an Ambler Scholar-Athlete, giving recognition to the top 16 student-athlete GPAs at Haverford among the senior class.

Abujbara's leadership proved crucial to the women's fencing team during the 2016-17 season as she helped guide the team to 14 victories. Haverford went on to place fifth at the EWFC Championship and ninth at the NIWFA Championship.