Sophomore year began with an invitation that carried more weight than any Ivy had received since her original Junior Worlds selection — a formal invitation to senior national team trials, the pathway that, if successful, would place her among the small handful of fencers representing the United States at the senior international level, genuine Olympic development consideration finally, concretely within reach.
"This is the real thing now," Coach Reyes told her, during a preparatory meeting before the trials' scheduled date in October. "Senior national team trials draw considerably more experienced competition than anything you've faced previously — fencers in their twenties, some with genuine Olympic experience already, all fighting for a genuinely limited number of spots."
"I know. I've
