Blue Devils Compete At North American Cup

RICHMOND, Va. ? Graham Godwyn and Ben Hendricks of the Duke men's fencing team collected top-60 finishes at the North American Cup over the weekend, while freshman Dorian Cohen earned a top-80 finish. Duke assistant coach and former US Olympian Leslie Marx also competed in the women's Division I epee event and left the competition with an eighth-place finish.

Godwyn, a freshman from Boston, Mass., was Duke's top men's epee finisher after taking 49th out of 237 entries in the Division I epee field. Following a stellar prep career at Wellesley High School, Godwyn has the potential to make a significant impact on the men's epee squad this season.

Hendricks, one of five seniors on the Blue Devil men's squad, was Duke's top finisher in foil competition after finishing 56th out of 153 entries. A native of Kaysville, Utah, Hendricks was Duke's top foil last season after leading the squad with a 47-10 record. He spent 2005 and 2006 on mission in the Ukraine, but returned to the team in 2007 without losing a beat. Hendricks will be a key component of a Blue Devil foil squad that went 14-5 last season.

Cohen, a freshman, followed up a first-place finish in foil at the Temple Open on Nov. 4 by taking 79th in the same event at the North American Cup over the weekend. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Cohen entered Duke ranked 20th in the country among seniors and 17th among juniors by USAFencing and picked up a gold medal at the 2007 Summer Nationals. As a prep standout at St. Ann's, Cohen led his team to a four-year undefeated record and put together a 90-2 individual record during his junior and senior seasons.

Assistant coach and former Blue Devil standout Leslie Marx ('89) also competed in the North American Cup and took eighth place out of 113 competitors in the women's Division I epee event. Marx, who was an Academic All-America selection at Duke and a participant in the 1996 Olympics, had not competed in nearly 10 years, but has already earned an ?A' ranking as a result of her performance over the weekend. She is in her sixth season as an assistant coach at Duke.

Up next for the Blue Devils will be their first meet of the season. Duke will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., for a Jan. 13 meeting with five schools, including Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Haverford, Rutgers and Temple.

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