 The western women finished with four NCAA All-Americans as the NCAA Championships came to a close this weekend at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center. With the men’s results combined, this earns the WFC fencers 10 All-American finishes.
In women’s epee, Stanford freshman Irene Yeu had an impressive fifth-place finish, the highest of any WFC fencer, with 15 wins and a +11 indicator. Yeu also had a stellar victory against the eventual runner-up, Notre Dame's Kaylin Hsieh. UC San Diego senior Emma Zmurk also finished as an All-American, placing 11th with 11 wins. Zmurk had a notable 5-3 win against Long Island University’s Laura Fekete who was crowned the 2021 NCAA Women’s Epee Champion later that day. In women’s saber, Stanford freshman Joy Yun placed 7th in the field of 24 with 13 victories and a +16 indicator. Women’s foil teammate, freshman Haley Koo followed suit, placing 6th with 13 victories and a +22 indicator. Of the five Stanford fencers that qualified for NCAA Championships, four garnered All-American honors. The highest placing western team was UC San Diego in 7th place, a school-record, followed by Air Force in 9th, another program-best, Stanford in 11th, and Incarnate Word in 14th. Final Individual Women’s Results Women’s Epee (out of 24 fencers) 5. Irene Yeu (Stanford) 11. Emma Zmurk (UC San Diego) 17. Nicole Agob (Air Force) 18. Tean Brooks (UC San Diego) 21. Juliana Peceli (Incarnate Word) 23. Jocelyn Ratzlaff (Air Force) Women’s Saber (out of 24 fencers) 7. Joy Yun (Stanford) 18. Julia Hill (UC San Diego) 20. Janna Aboudaher (UC San Diego) 22. Catherine Kim (Air Force) Women’s Foil (out of 24 fencers) 6. Haley Koo (Stanford) 15. Kaitlyn Guo (Air Force) 20. Konami Masui 22. Erica Kuen DNF Oleksandra Rebchunovska
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 The NCAA Men’s Fencing Championships came to a close today with six western region competitors garnering All-American Honors and two placing in the top 8.
Men’s Epee had the strongest showing of western fencers placing in the top 12 with Air Force’s Matthew Han coming in 7th, UC San Diego’s Vedran Markota placing 9th, and Incarnate Word’s Brandon Benavides placing 11th. Han and Markota both finished the day with 12 wins as Benavides trailed closely behind with 11 victories. In the end, Penn State's Ryan Griffiths took home the gold. In Men’s Saber, Stanford’s Donghwan Park placed 11th after winning 12 of 23 bouts and finishing with a +12 indicator. Park also had an impressive win against third-place finisher Clement Perrier from Penn State, winning the bout 5-1. UC San Diego’s Justin Park and Justin Cho placed 13th and 14th, respectively, narrowly missing the All-American margin of top 12, but had impressive performances nonetheless with 12 victories apiece. Ultimately, Notre Dame’s Luke Linder won the competition. The Men’s Foil competition came to a close with two All-American finishes coming from Air Forces Nestor Levin who placed 8th and UC San Diego’s Ben Hadler who placed 10th. This is Hadler’s second time receiving All-American Honors. Levin had a notable 5-1 win against Duke's Finn Hossfeld who finished third. Notre Dame's Marcello Olivares won the overall competition. Currently, UC San Diego is the highest-ranked western team placing 6th after the completion of the men's competition, with Air Force close behind in 8th, Incarnate Word in 12th, and Stanford in 13th. The women's competition will commence March 27-28 at the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State University. Follow live results here: https://escrimeresults.com/NCAA/ncaa2021.html#TM Final Individual Men's Results Men’s Epee (out of 24 fencers) 7. Matthew Han (Air Force) 9. Vedran Markota (UC San Diego) 11. Brandon Benavides (Incarnate Word) 16. Thomas Petrosewicz (Incarnate Word) 21. Ziad Khayat (UC San Diego) 22. Russell Cha (Air Force) Men’s Saber (out of 24 fencers) 11. Donghwan Park (Stanford) 17. Calvin Zau (Stanford 13. Justin Park (UC San Diego) 14. Justin Cho (UC San Diego) 16. Matthew Goode (Air Force) 20. William Nikolai (Air Force) Men’s Foil (out of 24 fencers) 8. Nestor Levin (Air Force) 10. Benjamin Hadler (UC San Diego) 16. Jake Thayer (Incarnate Word) 17. Lawrence Song (UC San Diego) 20. Griffin Peter (Air Force) 23. Blake Ruffner (Incarnate Word) Today marked the end of Day 1 for the men at the NCAA Championships taking place at Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State University. Currently, at least one western fencer is seeded in the top 8 in each respective weapon after fencing the standard 15 bouts from the first three rounds. Rounds 4 and 5 will commence tomorrow, with live-streaming on each strip as well as coverage of the semi-final and final bouts.
UC San Diego is currently ranked fourth out of all teams present at the Championships with Air Force close behind in 7th, Incarnate Word in 12th, and Stanford in 14th. The women’s competition will begin on Saturday March 27th and will finish on Sunday, March 28th. Current individual standings after Day 1: Men’s Foil (out of 24 fencers) 5. Nestor Levin (Air Force) 11. Benjamin Hadler (UC San Diego) 17. Lawrence Song (UC San Diego) 18. Jake Thayer (Incarnate Word) 21. Blake Ruffner (Incarnate Word) 22. Griffin Peter (Air Force) Men’s Epee (out of 24 fencers) 5. Matthew Han (Air Force) 6. Vedran Markota (UC San Diego) 14. Ziad Khayat (UC San Diego) 15. Brandon Benavides (Incarnate Word) 22. Russell Cha (Air Force) 23. Thomas Petrosewicz (Incarnate Word) Men’s Saber (out of 24 fencer) 7. Justin Cho (UC San Diego) 10. Donghwan Park (Stanford) 11. Calvin Zau (Stanford 12. Justin Park (UC San Diego) 14. Matthew Goode (Air Force) 20. William Nikolai (Air Force) Livestream link: https://gopsusports.com/sports/2021/3/17/2021-ncaa-fencing-championships.aspx?fbclid=IwAR2HLZnz0P6RLlnFZaHoGOpTJdyXuuxITbEHNkXp1DaPIqqiVcc0qzjj2So Live results: https://escrimeresults.com/NCAA/ncaa2021.html The Western Fencing Conference will be sending an all-time regional record of 33 competitors to the 2021 NCAA National Championships taking place March 25-28 at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.
For the first time in program history, the University of California, San Diego qualified a full team of 12 fencers. Only two other schools (Notre Dame & Penn State) qualified the maximum 12, giving the Tritons a shot at winning the national title. The U.S. Air Force Academy will also be strongly represented at the Championships after qualifying a grand total of ten. The Falcons will have a full roster on the men’s side. The University of Incarnate Word and Stanford University qualified six and five fencers, respectively, rounding out representation from all four west-region schools. “This is the strongest representation that the Western Fencing Conference has ever had at the NCAA National Championships. We are extremely proud of our dedicated student athletes and coaches. This unprecedented showing will provide a well-deserved boost to the WFC’s 10by30 initiative and serve notice that our conference and its member schools are firmly planted among the fencing elite.” said Daniel Milgram, President of the Western Fencing Conference. The NCAA Championships will be streamable online with coverage of every strip. The Western Fencing Conference will post a link closer to the event. See the list of qualifiers below: The University of California, San Diego Ziad Khayat - (Men’s Epee) Vedran Markota - (Men’s Epee) Benjamin Hadler (Men’s Foil) Lawrence Song (Men’s Foil) Justin Cho (Men’s Saber) Justin Park (Men’s Saber) Emma Zmurk (Women’s Epee) Tean Brooks (Women’s Epee) Erica Kuen (Women’s Foil) Konami Masui (Women’s Foil) Janna Aboudaher (Women’s Saber) Julia Hill (Women’s Saber) U.S. Air Force Academy Matthew Han (Men’s Epee) Russell Cha (Men’s Epee) Nestor Levin (Men’s Foil) Peter Griffin (Men’s Foil) Matthew Goode (Men’s Saber) William Nikolai (Men’s Saber) Nicole Agob (Women’s Epee) Jocelyn Ratzlaff (Women’s Epee) Kaitlyn Guo (Women’s Foil) Catherine Kim (Women’s Saber) University of Incarnate Word Brandon Benavides (Men’s Epee) Thomas Petrosewicz (Men’s Epee) Jake Thayer (Men’s Foil) Blake Ruffner (Men’s Foil) Juliana Peceli (Women’s Epee) Oleksandra Rebchunovska (Women’s Foil) Stanford University Donghwan Park (Men’s Saber) Calvin Zau (Men’s Saber) Irene Yeu (Women’s Epee) Haley Koo (Women’s Foil) Joy Yun (Women’s Saber)  Colorado Springs, Colorado - The UC San Diego men’s and women’s fencing teams came out on top Sunday for the Western Fencing Conference Team Championships with a narrow victory over the competition hosts, Air Force who placed second in both the men’s and women’s events. Third place went to Incarnate Word and fourth to Stanford.
This marks the sixth win for the Triton women in the past seven years and the first ever win for the Triton men. In 2020, the Stanford men clinched the title in a thrilling last bout against UC San Diego after winning the past six consecutive seasons. Individually, Air Force, UC San Diego, Stanford and Incarnate Word had a fairly even distribution in strong individual performances on Saturday which marked the West Invitational--a more solo-oriented event in preparation for the team championships. On the men’s side, Air Force’s senior sabreur Matthew Goode had an impressive record of 16 wins spread across the two days. Other standout performances came from Air Force’s junior foilist Nester Levin who totaled 11 wins. UC San Diego’s freshman Larry Song and junior Ben Hadler both had 11 as well in the men’s foil competition. In epee, UC San Diego sophomore Vedran Markota led with 10 wins. For the University of the Incarnate Word, junior epeeist Brandon Benavides led the way with 7 wins, tied with his teammate, junior Jake Thayer in foil. On the women’s side, Stanford freshman Haley Koo boasted 16 wins in foil with her epeeist teammate Irene Yeu close behind with 15 victories. Stanford’s freshman sabreur Joy Yun also did well across the two days with 13 victories, tied with UC San Diego junior, Julia Hill. Additionally, Incarnate Word junior Sasha Rebchunovska had a strong result with 9 wins. The event included a recognition ceremony for all seniors graduating this year presided by Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, USA Air Force Academy Superintendent. The conference would like to extend its gratitude to the Air Force team for putting together an amazing and exciting event that closely followed the mandatory COVID-19 safety procedures. The qualifiers for the NCAA Championships will be announced on March 18th, and the competition will take place at Penn State University from March 25-28. On the weekend of March 6th-7th, all four west-coast NCAA fencing teams comprised of Air Force, Stanford, the University of Incarnate Word, and the University of California, San Diego will be meeting in Colorado Springs for a combination event of the Western Invitational as well as the Western Fencing Conference Team Championships. Air Force will be hosting the competition in the Cadet Gymnasium on Saturday and in the Clune Arena on Sunday.
The Western Invitational will take place on Saturday, March 6th, and will act as a preparation for the all-important Western Fencing Conference Team Championships taking place the following day. Last year, the coveted titles went to Stanford on the men’s side, and UC San Diego on the women’s side. Live coverage will be available on Sunday here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPvuJLd9RDVK630zY2b6Ykg?view_as=subscriber Join us for a Zoom meeting discussing our plans and vision to build 10 fencing collegiate programs in the Western Region by 2030.
When: Dec 6, 2020 05:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Topic: 10by30 Western Fencing Conference Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Mw4W_qPvRU6_rqc_FTxbMg After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Come join, learn, and share your insights on how we can help collegiate fencing grow in the Western Region. To learn more, read our Declaration of Intent with our goal of 10 by 30. |
AuthorSUC San Diego alumna Emily Beihold and WFC Treasurer Sorah Shin will provide updates and news regarding the WFC with contributions from guest authors ArchivesCategories |
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