Sandy Tapia pulled a major comeback and came in 8th at the 2014 Cherry Blossom Open Tournament at the University of Maryland. A bad pool result left her seeded as the #26 seed going into direct eliminations. She pulled upsets in her 2nd and 3rd round bouts in order to make it to the quarterfinals.
This finish earned her a C2014 rating and, more importantly, allows her to begin fencing at the Div 1 level. Div 1 tournaments are the qualifiers for national teams and the Olympics.