Dates and site: The championships will be March 20-23 at Air Force.

Field: A maximum of 144 fencers will compete in the championships, 24 in each of the six weapons (men's epee, men's foil, men's sabre, women's epee, women's foil, women's sabre). No more than two fencers in each weapon will be selected from one institution.

Selection date: March 13.

2002 team champion: Penn State.

Top team contenders: Columbia-Barnard, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Pennsylvania, Penn State, Princeton, St. John's (New York).

Top men's individual contenders: Ozren Debic and Jan Viviani, Notre Dame; Arpad Horvath and Ivan Lee, St. John's (New York); Nonpatat Panchan and Adam Wiercioch, Penn State; Jason Rogers, Ohio State; Soren Thompson, Princeton.

Top women's individual contenders: Louise Bond-Williams and Hanna Thompson, Ohio State; Heather Brosnan and Jessica Burke, Penn State; Julia Gelman and Irinia Khouade, St. John's (New York); Sada Jacobson, Yale; Alicja Kryczalo and Kerry Walton, Notre Dame; Iris Zimmerman, Stanford.

Michael Lofton of New York University remains the only men's four-time individual champion since fencing became an NCAA championship sport in 1941. Lofton won the foil event from 1984 through 1987.