Western Men Finish With Six All-Americans at 2021 NCAA Championships

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)

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