Jolie Korfonta – Fencing

Senior Jolie Korfonta has been fencing for 7 years. She started fencing at the age of 11 from dancing to a different sport. With some pressure from her parents to find a sport that she could commit to a college for, she found fencing. She then found a nearby fencing club that offered a free first class, and her journey began. Despite being at a club that seemed to be rooting for her to fail, she continued to work hard and eventually earned multiple tournaments and the right to compete against an Olympian.

“I committed to Harvard because it’s subjectively the top fencing school. I chose them because of their training style, the team members and because it’s one of the few female run teams,” Korfonta said. “I hope I can continue training and shoot for the 2028 Olympics, but 2032 is looking more likely.”

Kaelyn MacKay – Wrestling

Senior Kaelyn Mackay has been wrestling for 2 years, however this love for wrestling came from her 8 years of Brazilian jiujitsu in the past. After years of training with her coach, Mackay committed to Ithaca College where she will continue to wrestle competitively. However this final didn’t come without its many challenges.

“I think one of the biggest challenges was finding the balance between school life and a great wrestling program,” Mackay said.

MacKay chose Ithaca because of the amazing coach that she feels she can learn a great amount from, in addition to the beautiful campus and school life. Another major challenge she faced was the rare knee injury that she faced making it hard at times for her to get into matches. However, through these struggles, she pushed forward. In the future, Mckay hopes to open a grappling gym where she can spread her knowledge and amazing wrestling experience.