FOUR TEAMS RECEIVE MAXIMUM 12 SPOTS INTO 2016 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD
Defending champs Columbia join Ivy League rival Princeton, plus Notre Dame and St. John’s, with a dozen entries into 2016 NCAAs; Ohio State next with 11, followed by Penn State (10), Harvard (9) and Penn (9).
RELEASE: March 23, 2016
Contact: Pete LaFleur (editor@collegefencing360.com)
(Note: Click Here for similar rundown for 2015 NCAA field)
Four teams – Columbia, Notre Dame, Princeton and St. John’s – received the maximum 12 individual qualifiers for the 2016 NCAA Combined Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championship, to be held March 24–27 at Gosman Athletic Center in Waltham, Mass. (hosted by Brandeis University). It marks the most teams with the full complement of entries since five teams each qualified a dozen in 2012, with that group including the eventual 2012 NCAA champion Penn State, plus runner-up SJU, ND, Harvard and Princeton.
A year ago (in 2015, at Ohio State), the eventual champion Columbia and ND were the only teams with the full dozen qualifiers. In 2014, also at OSU, it was three teams – the defending champion at the time Princeton, perennial power and eventual 2014 champion Penn State, and the tournament host Buckeyes – who had received the maximum 12 entrants. And one year earlier, the soon-to-be 2013 champions Princeton and eventual runner-up ND were the only teams that qualified the maximum 12 fencers.
2015 NCAA Fencing Headshot/Info. Galleries (courtesy CF360): * 2016 Versions coming for all six weapons *
Men’s Foil | Men’s Epee | Men’s Sabre | Women’s Foil | Women’s Epee | Women’s Sabre
ALL DATA ON THIS PAGE COURTESY OF CollegeFencing360.com – please credit accordingly
It is not unprecedented, but it is rare, for a team with 11 entrants to win the title over a team with the full 12 … and it’s certainly more conceivable when there’s only two teams with 12 (as opposed to four or five with the max. entrants, as there have been in recent years, including this season).
Most notably, such an “underdog title" happened in 2005 when Notre Dame's 11-fencer contingent rallied to beat another 11-fencer team, Ohio State, in a 173-171 thriller that played out in Houston (St. John's had been the only team to qualify 12 but faded and finished third, at 162). That 2005 NCAA format closed with two days of the women’s bouts, as Notre Dame surged past OSU – with the ND six-fencer contingent comprised entirely of fencers who competed in at least one NCAA individual final during their respective careers (foil–Alicja Kryczalo and Andrea Ament; epee–Kerry Walton and Amy Orlando; sabre–Mariel Zagunis and Valerie Providenza).
Now, 11 years later in 2016, Ohio State faces the long odds of trying to win the title with only 11 entrants, needing to best four different teams that boast the full 12 (in 2015, PSU, SJU and Princeton each qualified 11). OSU managed only one entrant in women’s sabre, but the Buckeyes boast a couple fencers who have reached their respective medal rounds (top–4) in past seasons: men’s epeeist Lewis Weiss and women’s foilist Alanna Goldie.
Penn State has qualified only 10 fencers for the 2016 NCAAs, with no entries in women’s foil. Harvard is next with nine (including a full complement in the women’s field), followed by the University of Pennsylvania with eight (six men, but only two women’s qualifiers).
Over the past 11 seasons (2006–16), there have been an average of 3.4 teams with the maximum 12 entrants at the NCAA Championships – including five in 2010 and ’12 (four in ’08 and now ’16; three in ’06, ’07, ’09, ’11 and ’14; and a low of two in 2013 and again in 2015).
Host Ohio State and Harvard, with only 10 entrants each, are considerable longshots, not solely because of being short two fencers but also because they must surpass five other teams that will be fielding 12 or 11 competitors.
Stanford (7) is the only other school that qualified more than six fencers for the 2016 NCAAs, among the 144-fencer field (24 each in men’s foil, men’s epee, men’s sabre, women's foil, women's epee and women's sabre). Duke and surging NJIT both feature six qualifiers.
In addition to the four teams with 12 total entrants, OSU, PSU and Penn feature the full six men’s qualifiers while Harvard is the only other women’s program with six in the field. Among schools that sponsor only women’s fencing on the varsity level, three have qualified four fencers into the 2016 NCAA field: Cornell, Northwestern and Temple. All five of NYU’s qualifiers are on the men’s side.
HISTORIC SIX-PACK? – If St. John’s (or longshot Harvard) wins the 2016 NCAA Fencing Championship, that will yield six different team champions over the past five years (2015: Columbia … 2014: Penn State … 2013: Princeton … 2012: Ohio State … and 2011: Notre Dame … the 2010 champ was PSU).
(college fencing fans – this is very text- and data-heavy, will try to add some nice photos later to break it up and will integrate some more visual elements in other postings over the next few days … also trying to “unpack” even more research I’ve done over the past 15-plus years, to develop more notebook/historical stuff … hopefully some of you out there enjoy it, always feel free to contact me with specific questions, etc.)
ALL DATA ON THIS PAGE COURTESY OF CollegeFencing360.com – please credit accordingly
2015 NCAA Fencing Headshot/Info. Galleries (courtesy CF360): * 2016 Versions coming for all six weapons *
Men’s Foil | Men’s Epee | Men’s Sabre | Women’s Foil | Women’s Epee | Women’s Sabre
• A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE FOUR 12-FENCER TEAMS ...
(text still to be added here summarizing the four primary title contenders)
_____
• Welcome to the Big Stage – Several entrants (17 total) for the top-five contending teams will be making their NCAA Championships debut, half of them freshmen (8) but also some veterans (3 seniors; 1 junior; 5 sophomores) who finally get their chance on the big stage of collegiate fencing. The younger NCAA newcomers have been battle-tested all over the world during their youth fencing careers – but everything changes at the NCAAs, a 23-bout/2-day gauntlet, with the major psychological component piled on, as each fencer from a contending team is dreading a “bad loss” that could prove costly to their school’s title chances.
Will these newcomers to the NCAAs rise to the occasion with great consistency and focus, boosted by the guidance of their coaches and veteran teammates? Or will they – like so many standouts before them – have some unexpected bumps in the road? More importantly, like a pitcher closing the game in baseball, how quickly will they be able to shake off a bad touch/result and mentally move on? One of these teams could run away with the title, and this topic then could be somewhat of a moot point … but the performance of the NCAA newcomers (especially for ND’s seven making their debut) likely will be pivotal in determining the champion.
Here are the 17 fencers, from the top-five teams, who will making their NCAA debut at Brandeis (more than half of ND’s contingent, 7, have never fenced in the NCAAs before, plus three each from Princeton and SJU, and two each from defending champ Columbia and OSU):
– NCAA Tournament Debuts in 2016 (top-five contending teams):
> COLUMBIA (2):
so. men’s epeeist Porter Hesselgrove (current Lions sr. Brian Ro was 2015 NCAA semifinalist)
fr. men’s sabre Calvin Liang
> NOTRE DAME (7, including 5-of-6 women):
fr. men’s foilist Axel Kiefer
fr. men’s epeeist Darius Zacharakis
fr. women’s foilist Sabrina Massialas
sr. women’s foilist Nicole McKee (4th at ’16 NCAA Midwest Regional; 6th in ’15; ; dnf in ’14 Regional; 9th in ’13)
sr. women’s epeeist Catherine Lee (2016 NCAA Midwest Regional champ; 5th in ’15; dnf in ’14 Regional; did not compete in ’13)
fr.. women’s epeeist Madeline Antekeier
fr. women’s sabre Tara Hassett
– of note: three of the fencers above have siblings who have excelled on the NCAA Championship stage: three-time NCAA women’s foil champ Lee Kiefer, with ND (2013–15; year off in 2016 for Olympics) and, earlier, sister Alex Kiefer/Harvard won the 2011 NCAA title … Alex Massialas has won two NCAA men’s foil titles, ’13 and ’15, with Stanford (he also is taking 2016 off from college fencing for Olympics) … Sabrina Massialas trains in her native San Francisco at the same club that has produced former ND standout/current Olympian Gerek Meinhardt (2010 and ’14 NCAA champ; ’09 runner-up) plus current Penn State men’s foil star Nobuo Bravo (’15 NCAA runner-up; ’14 semifinalist), all training under Sabrina and Alex’s dad Greg Massialas (who doubles as the U.S. Men’s Foil National Team Coach) … finally, both Eileen and Kevin Hassett fenced in multiple NCAA sabre competitions for Notre Dame (with little six Tara now following in their footsteps): Eileen finished top–7 every year from 2008–11 (semifinalist with 2011 NCAA team-title squad) while Kevin was a two-time all-American (7th in 2012; 9th in ’13) and three-time qualifier (18th in ’14).
> PRINCETON (3):
so. women’s foilist Taylor Chin
fr. women’s epeeist Charlene Liu
sr. women’s sabre Desirae Major
… note: Major won the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic-South Regional, after placing 11th in ’15 and 5th in ’14 (when two of her teammates placed #1 and #3); Major did not fence in the ’13 Regional.
> ST. JOHN’S (3):
so. men’s epeeist Curtis McDowald
so. women’s epeeist Ally Ryf
jr. women’s sabre Mathilda Taharo
> OHIO STATE (2):
so. men’s sabre Hector Florencia
fr. women’s epeeist Emma von Dadelszen
Scroll to bottom of page for full qualifier lists, sorted by weapon
(some additional team & individual notes are included below, and with each entrant list … with plenty more coming to CF360 over the next few days)
2016 NCAA Fencing Championship Entrants (sorted by most entries per school)
12 – Columbia, Notre Dame, Princeton and St. John’s
11 – Ohio State (1 w-sabre)
10 – Penn State (no women’s foil)
9 – Harvard (no men’s epee; 1 men’s sabre)
8 – Penn (no w-epee; 1 w-foil & w-sabre)
7 – Stanford
6 – Duke and NJIT
5 – NYU
4 – *Cornell, *Northwestern, *Temple, UC San Diego and Yale
3 – Sacred Heart and Wayne State
2 – Boston College and North Carolina
1 – Air Force, Brown, Incarnate Word and Lawrence
* – these teams sponsor only women’s fencing varsity programs
notes: in addition to COL, ND, PRIN and SJU, three other teams (Ohio State, Penn & Penn St.) qualified the maximum six men’s fencers … the Harvard women also earned the max. six bids.
• Competition Format – All fencers compete in a round-robin format of 23 five-touch bouts, spread out over two days (women on Thur.-Fri., March 24-25; followed by the men on the weekend). The team scoring is simple – with each individual victory counting as one point to the team total. The top-four finishers in each weapon will contend for individual titles (women on Friday afternoon, men Sunday), with 15-touch semifinals and title bouts. Those closing individual bouts do not factor into the team point totals.
• Recent Team Title History – Princeton in 2013 captured the program's first NCAA combined team title, since the men's and women's championships merged in 1990. Spanning the previous 11 seasons, three different schools each had collected three NCAA titles (from 2003-13): Notre Dame (2003, ’05 and ’11), Ohio State (’04, ’08 and ’12) and Penn State (’07, ’09 and ’00, also again in ’14), with the other in that span won by Harvard in 2006. The Irish also won in 1994, the fifth year of the combined men's and women's championship, and have been the NCAA runner-up seven times over the past 25 seasons (1996, '97, '98, '99, 2000, '08, '09 and '13).
Columbia won the NCAA title in 1992 and ’93 (the third and fourth years under the combined format), but the Lions had not returned to the top spot (or runner-up position) in more than two decades – until claiming the title in 2015. Harvard was somewhat of a surprise winner of the 2006 NCAA team title, held in Houston.
It has been 15 years since St. John’s won the NCAA team fencing title (’01), but the Red Storm have been close five other times during the combined format – finishing as runner-up during that 26-year stretch in 1995, 2000, ’02, ’07 and ’10 (SJU is among the top contenders for the 2016 title, with 12 qualifiers).
During the 26-year history of previous men’s and women’s combined NCAA championships, Penn State has either won the title (13 – 1990, ’91, ’95, ’96, ’97, ’98, ’99, 2000, ’02, ’07, ’09, ’10 and ’14) or finished as runner-up (9 – 1992, ’93, ’94, 2001, ’03, ’04, ’06, ’11 and ’ 5) in 22 of those years, all but five: 2005 (when ND won, OSU 2nd), 2008 (OSU won, ND 2nd), 2012 (OSU won, Princeton 2nd) and 2013 (Princeton was the champs, ND the runner-up) … it looks likely that 2016 also will be a rare year with PSU not among the top-two finishers, since the Nittany Lions qualified only 10.
• At-Large Entries – The 144-fencer field was rounded out by two at-large entries for each weapon, with the bulk of the competitors advancing directly from the four regions (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic/South, Midwest and West) based on pre-determined allotments. It appears that, for the second straight year, Notre Dame bumped up from 11 to 12 qualifiers via the at-large process, this time in women’s epee as freshman Madeline Antekeier joined ND senior Catherine Lee in the the 2016 NCAA field. One year earlier, it was likely at-large entrant Jonathan Fitzgerald joining fellow ND freshman Jonah Shainberg in the 2015 NCAA men’s sabre field.
Beyond Antekeier and Ohio State men’s sabre qualifier Hector Florencia, most of the 12 at-large entrants appear to come from teams not in contention for the overall team title (note that the NCAA does not formally designate which fencers received the at-large spots). Penn State’s rare low total of 10 qualifiers almost was nine, but Howie Chan apparently earned an at-large spot in men’s foil (the other likely at-large entries include fencers from Stanford, Boston College, Sacred Heart, North Carolina, Penn, Duke, Wayne State, Northwestern–2 and Temple). Wayne State men’s sabre All-American Ziad Elssissy originally had qualified but withdrew in order to pursue a spot in the 2016 Olympics (his spot appears to have been filled by UNC’s Matthew Garrelick).
• Team Options – Several teams had some options in terms of which two fencers from certain weapons to send to the 2016 NCAAs, but in nearly every case those teams went strictly by the numbers (as determined by the NCAA qualification formula that is 40% season strength factor leading into the Regional weekend and then 60% based on Regional finish). The three team options that were utilized, each of which could impact the team title race, included:
> Columbia men’s foil (sr. All-American Harry Bergman replaced fr. Nolen Scruggs)
> Columbia women’s foil (jr. Sara Taffel/15th at ’14 NCAA’s replaced fr. Iman Blow)
> St. John’s women’s epee (so. Ally Ryf replaced fellow veteran Alex Tannous)
A further move was made official shortly before the 2017 NCAAs, as Penn had to replace sophomore men’s foilist John Vaiani due to illness. Vaiani – who was a 2015 NCAA semifinalist (lost 12–15 to PSU’s Nobuo Bravo) – was the No. 2 seed heading into the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional and secured his spot in the NCAA Championship field by placing 8th. Since Penn had another men’s foilist who fell within the qualification standards, freshman Aaron Ahn (Los Angeles, Calif.) will fill Vaiani’s spot in the 24-fencer NCAA men’s foil field. Ahn was the Regional #9 seed before reaching the final pool-of-12, where he finished 10th.
One year ago, in 2015, Penn State installed sophomore Teodora Kakiani (2014 NCAA runner-up; then returned to medal round in ’15) as their second women’s sabre competitor for the NCAAs (PSU had three of the top-5 women’s sabre finishers in the 2015 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional).
There also was a late change to the 2015 Columbia lineup, as the Lions had an option at men’s foil and opted to go with junior Adam Mathieu over sophomore Drew Johnston. Mathieu had been a two-time NCAA participant and nearly earned All-America honors in 2014 (13th at NCAAs, after 16th in ’13 … he then placed 12th to help capture the 2015 NCAA title). Johnston would have been making his NCAA debut.
• Elite of the Elite – There are 22 fencers in the 2016 NCAA field who previously have reached the NCAA individual medal round (a total of 32 times), led by six former NCAA champions:
• Columbia senior Jake Hoyle (2015 NCAA men’s epee champion)
• Penn State sophomore Andrew Mackiewicz (2015 NCAA men’s sabre champion)
• Notre Dame sophomore Francesca Russo (2015 NCAA women’s sabre champion)
• St. John’s grad. student *Yevgeniy Karyuchenko (2014 NCAA men’s epee champion)
• Penn State junior Kaito Streets (2014 NCAA men’s sabre champion)
• Harvard junior Adienne Jarocki (2014 NCAA women’s sabre champion)
– * notes: a year ago, Karuchenko did not have the chance to defend his NCAA title, after surprisingly finishing outside the final–21 at the 2015 NCAA Northeast Regional … one year earlier, there were two former NCAA champions that never had the chance to defend their titles in 2014: Penn’s Michael Mills in men’s sabre, plus ND’s Ariel DeSmet in men’s foil (both also failed to qualify) … two multi-year NCAA champions are taking a year off from college fencing while pursuing spots in the 2016 Olympic field: ND women’s foilist Lee Kiefer (2013–15 champion) and Stanford men’s foilist Alex Massialas (’13 and ’15 champ; ’14 semifinalist).
In addition to Hoyle, Mackiewicz, Russo, Massialas and Kiefer, the other 2015 NCAA champion was St. John’s women’s epeeist/graduate Isis Washington.
Beyond Kiefer, Jarocki, Streets and Karyuchenko, the other 2014 NCAA individual champions were Notre Dame men’s foilist Gerek Meinhardt and Stanford’s Vivian Kong, who is taking two years off from collegiate fencing with the Cardinal to pursue a spot in the 2016 Olympic Games (with Hong Kong).
• More Title-Bout Experience – The 2016 NCAA field also includes eight fencers who have been the NCAA individual runner-up during their respective careers (total of nine times):
• Penn State senior Nobuo Bravo (2015 NCAA men’s foil runner-up)
• Princeton senior Jack Hudson (2015 NCAA men’s epee runner-up)
• St. John’s senior Ferenc Valkai (2014 and ’15 NCAA men’s sabre runner-up)
• NJIT sophomore Julia Garcia (2015 NCAA women’s epee runner-up)
• U-Penn senior Shaul Gordon (2013 NCAA men's saber runner-up, while fencing for Penn State)
• Harvard senior Aliya Itzkowitz (2014 NCAA women’s sabre runner-up)
• Notre Dame senior Garrett McGrath (2014 NCAA men’s epee runner-up)
• Columbia senior Jackie Dubrovich (2013 NCAA women’s foil runner-up)
• Medal-Round Mettle – Finally, there are 13 other fencers who have reached the NCAA medal round previously (but lost in their semifinal bouts) a total of 17 times:
• women’s foil: Jackie Dubrovich (COL ’14), Alanna Goldie (OSU ’14 & ’15) and Marta Hausman (SJU ’15)
• women’s epee: Jessie Radanovich (Penn State ’14) & Victoria Wines (Cornell '15)
• women's sabre: Gracie Stone (Princeton ’13 & ’14), Teodora Kakhiani (Penn St. ’14 & ’15) & Adrienne Jarocki (’15)
• *men’s foil: Nobuo Bravo (Penn State '14)
• men’s epee: Jack Hudson (Princeton ’14) and Lewis Weiss (Ohio State '15)
• men’s sabre: Shaul Gordon (Penn ’14) and Roman Sydorenko (St. John’s ’14 & ‘15)
> note: 2015 men’s foil semifinalist John Vaiani of U-Penn had to withdraw from the 2016 NCAAs due to illness
In addition to the aforementioned Karyuchenko, two other former NCAA medal-round fencers who were active in the 2014-15 college season did not reach the 2015 NCAAs: Harvard men’s epeeist Peregrine Badger (2013 semifinalist) and Penn women’s foilist Luona Wang (2012 semifinalist). This year, Columbia senior men’s epeeist Brian Ro failed to make the 2016 NCAA field, after finishing as a 2015 semifinalist (where he lost a tight bout to teammate/eventual champ Jake Hoyle).
• Dirty Dozen – The 2015 NCAAs marked an end to Princeton’s streak of five straight years with the max. 12 NCAA entrants, but the Tigers are back to the full allotment of 12 for the 2016 NCAAs. Harvard had 12 NCAA qualifiers recently in 2010 and again in '12, with Columbia's most-recent 12-fencer contingents (prior to 2015) coming in 2007 and '08. Penn State surprisingly has sent the max. 12 fencers to the NCAAs only five times during the past 12 years: 2006, '07, '09, '10 and '14 ('07, ’09, '10 and ’14 all were title-winning years for PSU).
Starting in 2005, St. John’s has produced 12-fencer NCAA contingents five more times (also ’07, ’08, ’10, ’11 and ’15). Ohio State had a 12-fencer group at the 2008 NCAAs (OSU won that year), followed by a dozen entries in 2009, ’11, ’12 and ’14.
Notre Dame – one year after stunningly qualifying only 10 fencers for the 2014 NCAAs (its lowest number of NCAA entrants in the 16-year history of the six-weapon format, since 2000) – returned back to its customary standard of the max. qualification group of 12 in 2015, and again now in ’16. The Irish had qualified 12 every year from 2008–13, the longest such streak in college fencing at the time. Prior to 2014, Notre Dame had qualified 165 out of a possible 168 fencers (98.2%) in the six-weapon era from 2000-13 – missing only in 2004 (men’s epee), 2005 (men’s foil, when ND won the title with 11) and 2007 (women’s epee) before sending only one men’s epeeist and one in women’s sabre to the 2014 NCAAs.
• Who’s Back for More? – Here’s a breakdown of each 2016 NCAA weapon field, in terms of fencers returning from the 2015 NCAA entrants:
• 14 (of 24) women’s epeeists
• 12 (of 24) men’s foilists (plus two who fenced in ’13 or ’14 NCAAs but not ’15)
• 12 (of 24) men’s sabre fencers (plus one from ’14 NCAAs but not ’15)
• 11 (of 24) women’s foilists
• 11 (of 24) men’s epeeists
• 11 (of 24) women’s sabre fencers (also two who fenced in ’13 or ’14 NCAAs but not in ’15)
total returners from 2015 NCAAs: 71 of 144 (49%), also 5 others w/ NCAA Champ. exp. pre-2014 (76 of 144 is 53%)
… And here’s how many former All-Americans (based on previous NCAA top-12 finishes) are in the 2016 NCAA Championship field:
• 11 men’s sabre fencers (five w/ medal-round exp. … two former champions)
• 10 men’s foilists (one w/ medal-round exp. … no former champions)
• 10 men’s epeeists (five w/ medal-round exp. … two former champions)
• 9 women’s sabre fencers (five w/ medal-round exp. … two former champion)
• 8 women’s epeeists (three w/ medal-round exp. … no former champions)
• 7 women’s foilists (three w/ medal-round exp. … no former champions)
totals: 55 former All-Americans (11 w. medal-round experience, six of them former champions)
• 4-Time NCAA Qualifiers – Here are the 10 fencers (five men; five women) making their fourth career appearances at the NCAAs, in 2016 (four WF, two MF, two ME, one WS and one MS):
• women’s foil (4): Jackie Dubrovich (Columbia), Marta Hausman (St. John’s), Mary McElwee (Air Force) and Angelia Gangemi (Cornell)
• men’s foil (2): Adam Mathieu (Columbia), Michele Caporizzi (St. John’s)
• men’s epee (2): Garrett McGrath (Notre Dame) and Simon Jones (Brown)
• men’s sabre (1): Shaul Gordon (Penn; spent ’13 at PSU)
• women’s sabre (1): Gracie Stone (Princeton)
> Looking back at the 2015 NCAAs, these fencers were making their 4th appearance:
• Madi Zeiss (Notre Dame w-foil) – ’14 NCAA runner-up; ’13 semifinalist; 8th in ‘12
• Alina Antokhina (Penn State w-foil) – ’12 NCAA semifinalist; 22nd in ’13; 13th in ‘14
• Ambika Singh (Princeton w-foil) – 10th at ’12 NCAs; 9th in ’13 & ‘14
• Lauren Miller (Yale w-foil) – 7th at ’12 NCAAs; 13th in ‘13, 17th in ‘14
• Emma Vaggo (Harvard w-epee) – 9th at ’14 NCAAs; 14th in ’12 & ’13
• Sarah Collins (Duke w-epee) – 13th at ’12 NCAAs; 18th in ’13; 12th in ’14
• Gillian Litynski (North Carolina w-sabre) – 2013 semifinalist; 8th in ’14; 18th in ’12
• Christine Whalen (Brown w-sabre) – 19th at ’12 NCAAs; 10th in ’13; 14th in '14
• Brian Kaneshige (Harvard m-foil) – 12th in '12, 7th in ’13, 8th in ‘14
• Will Spear (Columbia m-sabre) – 5th at ’12 & ’13 NCAAs; 12th in ’14
(none in men’s epee)
– note that four of the above (Zeiss, Singh, Kaneshige and Spear) were potential 4-time All-Americans (top–12)
(Also may add list of three-time entrants in 2016 NCAAs, which are included below with each weapon summary.)
• New Faces in Old Places – A quick breakdown of the 37 freshmen (excluding redshirts, when clearly noted) in the 2016 NCAA field (nearly 26% of the 144 NCAA entrants are freshmen; 20 men and 17 women):
• 8 men’s sabre entrants
• 8 men’s epeeists
• 6 women’s epeeists
• 6 women’s foilists
• 5 women’s sabre entrants
• and only 4 men’s foilists in the 2016 NCAA field
> A year ago at the 2015 NCAAs. the freshman breakdown was: 10 WS–9 MF–8 ME–8 MS–6 WE–1WF (for 42 total, or nearly 30% of the field).
• Home Facility Advantage – Ohio State won the NCAA title at its home facility, in 2008 and '12. Penn State also owns a recent NCAA title while fencing at home, in 2010.
… Here's the full list (scroll down) of the 144 qualifiers for the 2016 NCAAs, with some helpful note summaries at the top of each weapon (returners, All-Americans, medal-round exp., past champions, 3-time & 4-time participants, top freshman performers at Regionals) plus each name including class year, hometown and past NCAA finishes, in addition to alternate/at-large info. where applicable … plenty of additional NCAA field analysis, historical perspective, etc., coming later on CF360:
ALL DATA ON THIS PAGE COURTESY OF CollegeFencing360.com – please credit accordingly
2015 NCAA Fencing Headshot/Info. Galleries (courtesy CF360): * 2016 Versions coming for all six weapons *
Men’s Foil | Men’s Epee | Men’s Sabre | Women’s Foil | Women’s Epee | Women’s Sabre
____________________________________________________
2016 NCAA MEN'S FOIL ENTRANTS
– 24-fencer field includes:
• 12 who also were in the 2015 NCAAs (plus one in ’14 NCAAs but not ’15; and another in ’13 & ’14 but not ’15) … with the other 10 entrants including only four freshmen, plus six veterans making their NCAA debut (2 juniors; 4 sophomores)
… the 2015 m-foil field included 11 who had fenced in the ’14 NCAAs (plus one in ’12 but not ’13 or ’14)
• 10 former ALL-AMERICANSs/top–12 (Woo, Bergman, Bravo, Caporizzi, M. Dudey, Chastanet, Collineau, T. Dudey, Mathieu and Sudilovsky), one year after the 2015 NCAA m-foil field included only 7 former All-Americans
• Only one former MEDAL-ROUND fencer (top–4):
> Penn State sr. Nobuo Bravo (’15 NCAA runner-up; ’14 NCAA semifinalist)
note: 2015 men’s foil semifinalist John Vaiani of U-Penn had to withdraw from the 2016 NCAAs due to illness
… the 2015 NCAA m-foil field included three former medal-round fencers (Bravo, Alex Massialas & Ariel DeSmet)
• Three 3-time NCAA participant (Nobuo Bravo/Penn St.; Harry Bergman/Columbia; and Michael Woo/Harvard)
… and a pair of 4-TIME NCAA PARTICIPANTS:
> Michele Caporizzi/St. Joohn’s (9th at ’13 NCAAs, 5th in ’14, 19th in ’15)
> Adam Mathieu/Columbia (16th at ’13 NCAAs, 13th in ’14, 12th in ’15)
… the 2015 NCAA m-foil field included 4-time participant Brian Kaneshige/Harvard (plus five 3rd-timers)
• Four FRESHMEN, led by:
> Axel Kiefer (Notre Dame) – Midwest Regional champion (#2 seed)
… in 2015, the nine freshmen in the NCAA m–foil field included three of the four regional champions: Andrea Nemeth (St. John’sNortheast) … Thomas Dudey (Princeton/Mid-Atlantic/South) … and Max Chastanet (Ohio State/Midwest).
– AND HERE ARE THE 24 NCAA MEN’S FOIL ENTRANTS for 2016:
* below – indicates number of previous appearances in the NCAA Championships
COLUMBIA – sr. Harry Bergman** (team option/replacement; Lebanon, NJ; 5th at 2015 NCAAs, 21st in ’14)
… and sr. Adam Mathieu*** (Union City, NJ; 16th at ’13 NCAAs, 13th in ’14, 12th in ’15)
> Mathieu won the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional (as the #3 seed) while Bergman placed 3rd (#11 seed)
NOTRE DAME – so. Virgile Collineau* (Aix-en-Provenec, France; 11th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and fr. Axel Kiefer (Versailles, KY), brother of ND 3-time NCAA w-foil champ Lee Kiefer (2016 Olympian)
> Kiefer won the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional (as the #2 seed) while Collineau placed 3rd (#1 seed)
PRINCETON – sr. Michael Dudey* (Bellaire, TX; 7th at ’14 NCAAs)
… and so. Thomas Dudey* (Bellaire, TX; 9th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Thomas matched his seed by placing 4th at the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atl./South Regional while Michael was 6th (#3 seed)
ST. JOHN’S – grad student Michele Caporizzi*** (Milan, Italy; 9th at ’13 NCAAs, 5th in ’14, 19th in ’15)
… and so. Andras Nemeth* (fr.; Budapest, Hungary; 15th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Nemeth matched his #2 seed at the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional while Caporizzi placed 4th (#5 seed)
OHIO STATE – so. Maximillien Chastanet* (Nice, France; 8th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and so. Stanislov “Stas” Sudilovsky* (Haifa, Israel; 7th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Sudilovsky was the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional runner-up (as the #4 seed) while Chastanet placed 4th (#5 seed)
#PENN STATE – sr. Nobuo Bravo** (San Francisco, CA; 2015 NCAA runner-up, ’14 semifinalist)
… and jr. Howie Chan (Walnut, CA)
> Bravo won the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #1 seed) while Chan placed 12th (#8 seed)
HARVARD – jr. Stephen Mageras (Darien, CT)
… and sr. Michael Woo** (Wayne, NJ; 8th at ’13 NCAAs, 9th in ’14)
> Woo finished 5th at the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional (as the #6 seed) while Mageras placed 8th (#1 seed)
PENN – fr. Raymond Chen (Dallas, TX)
… and fr. Aaron Ahn (Los Angeles, CA)
> Chen placed 5th at the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #7 seed) while Ahn placed 10th (#9 seed) … Ahn replaced teammate John Vaiani (out due to illness; placed 8th at Regional, as #2 seed)
NJIT (New Jersey Inst. of Tech.) – so. Simon Rizell* (Gothenburg, Sweden; 18th at ’15 NCAAs) 2nd/10
… and so. Henrique Marques (Sao Paulo, Brazil) 3rd/5
> Rizell impressively was 2015 NCAA Mid-Atl./South Regional runner-up (as #10 seed) while Marques was 3rd (#5 seed)
NYU (New York University) – so. Daniel Sconzo* (Merrick, NY; 20th at ’15 NCAAs) 9th/8
… and so. Phillip Shin (New York, NY) 10th/10
> Sconzo placed 9th at the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional (as the #8 seed) while Shin matched his #10 seed
LAWRENCE – fr. Nathan Schlesinger (Austin, TX); matched his seed by placing 7th at 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional
#SACRED HEART – so. Tyler Endee (Jackson, NJ); matched his seed by placing 13th at ’16 NCAA Northeast Regional
STANFORD – so. Darren Mei (Redwood City, CA); runner-up at 2016 West Regional (as #5 seed)
UC SAN DIEGO – so. David Hadler* (San Francisco, CA; 14th at ’15 NCAAs); won 2016 West Regional, as #1 seed
Note: Due to illness, Penn sophomore John Vaiani (2015 NCAA semifinalist) was replaced in the 2016 NCAA field by freshman teammate Aaron Ahn, who met the qualification standards.
• Notable Fencers Not in 2016 NCAA Men’s Foil Field:
> Harvard sr. Jerry Chang (6th at ’15 NCAAs … 7th at 2016 Northeastern Regional)
> NJIT jr. David Kong (21st at ’15 NCAAs; 18th in ’14 … placed 13th at 2016 Mid-Atl./South Regional)
> Yale sr. Brian Wang (23rd at ’15 NCAAs … 28th at 2016 Northeastern Regional)
… Stanford two-time NCAA champion Alex Massilas (’13 and ’15; also ’14 semifinalist) is taking the year off from collegiate fencing while seeking a return trip to he Olympic Games.
# – The at-large entrants in the 2016 men’s foil field came from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic/South – based on pre-Regional seeding and Regional finish – they most likely appear to have been Penn State’s Howie Chan and Sacred Heart’s Tyler Endee (not officially released by the NCAA).
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2016 NCAA MEN'S EPEE ENTRANTS
– 24-fencer field includes:
• 11 who also were in the 2015 NCAAs … with the other 13 entrants including eight freshmen, plus five veterans making their NCAA debut (one senior; one junior; three sophomores)
… the 2015 m-epee field included 10 who had fenced in the 2014 NCAAs
• 10 former ALL-AMERICANS/top–12 (Blais, Garzo, McGrath, House, Hoyle, Hudson, Jones, Karyuchenko, Shepard and Weiss), after the 2015 NCAA men’s epee field featured only seven previous All-Americans
• 5 former MEDAL-ROUND fencers (top–4): 2 in 2015
> Columbia sr. Jake Hoyle (2015 NCAA champion)
> St. John’s jr. Yevginiy Karyuchenko (2014 NCAA champion)
> Princeton sr. Jack Hudson (2015 NCAA runner-up; ’14 semifinalist)
> Notre Dame sr. Garrett McGrath (2014 NCAA runner-up)
> Ohio State so. Lewis Weiss (2015 NCAA semifinalist)
… the 2015 NCAA m-epee field included only two former medal-round fencers (McGrath and Hudson)
• Four 4-time NCAA participants (House, Hoyle, Hudson and Shepard)
… and a pair of 4-time NCAA entrants:
> Notre Dame’s Garrett McGrath (2014 NCAA runner-up, 13th in ’13 and ’15)
> Brown’s Simon Jones (10th at ’13 NCAAs, 18th in ’14, 12th in ’15)
… the 2015 NCAA m-epee field included no 4-time entrants and three 3-timers (McGrath, Jones and Brian Ro/COL)
• 8 freshmen, led by:
> Justin Yoo (Penn) – Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Champion (as #1 seed)
> Sean Strong (Stanford) – West Regional Champion (as #5 seed)
> Roman Cannone (Sacred Heart) – Northeast Regional Runner-Up (as #8 seed)
> Alexander Sless (Incarnate Word) – 3rd at West Regional (as #1 seed)
> Skyler Chin (Yale) – 4th at Northeast Regional (as #23 seed)
… one year earlier in 2015, the freshman entries in the m-epee field included OSU’s Lewis Weiss (’15 Midwest Regional champ) and Penn’s Jake Raynis (’15 M-A/S Regional runner-up)
– AND HERE ARE THE 24 NCAA MEN’S EPEE ENTRANTS for 2016:
* below – indicates number of previous appearances in the NCAA Championships
COLUMBIA – sr. Jake Hoyle** (Philadelphia, PA; 2015 NCAA champion, 15th in ’14)
… and so. Porter Hesselgrove (Los Angeles, CA)
> Hesselgrove placed 3rd at the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional (as the #12 seed) while Hoyle placed 6th (as #3 seed)
NOTRE DAME – sr. Garrett McGrath*** (Mesa, AZ; 2014 NCAA runner-up, 13th in ’13 and ’15)
… and fr. Darius Zacharakis (Houston, TX)
> McGrath was the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional runner-up (as the #8 seed) while Zacharakis was 5th (#7 seed)
PRINCETON – sr. Jack Hudson** (Houston, TX; 2015 NCAA runner-up, ’14 semifinalist)
… and jr. Alex House** (Upton, MA; 13th at ’14 NCAAs, 11th in ’15)
> House placed 3rd at the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #5 seed) while Hudson was 5th (#4 seed)
ST. JOHN’S – jr. Yevginiy Karyuchenko* (Kharkiv, Ukraine; 2014 NCAA champion)
… and so. Curtis McDowald (Jamaica, NY)
> McDowald won the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional (as the #1 seed) while Karyuchenko placed 8th (as #4 seed)
OHIO STATE – so. Lewis Weiss* (Houston, TX; 2015 NCAA semifinalist)
… and so. Marc-Antoine Blais* (Montreal, Quebec; 6th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Weiss won the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional (as the #1 seed) while Blais placed 3rd (#2 seed)
PENN STATE – jr. Conor Shepard** (Colleyville, TX; 10th at ’14 NCAAs, 15th in ’15) 2/9
… and jr. Patrick August (Las Vegas, NV) 14/3
> Shepard was runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as #9 seed) while August was 14th (#3 seed)
PENN – so. Zsombor Garzo* (Budapest, Hungary; 10th at ’15 NCAAs) 6/1
… and fr. Justin Yoo (Los Angeles, CA) 1/2
> Yoo won the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as #2 seed) while Garzo placed 6th (#1 seed)
#STANFORD – fr. Sean Strong (Goleta, CA)
… and fr. Tristan Krueger (Bend, OR)
> Strong won the 2016 NCAA West Regional (as the #5 seed) while Zacharakis was 5th (#2 seed)
#BOSTON COLLEGE – sr. Peter Wetzel (Germantown, TN); placed 12th at 2016 Northeast Regional (as #18 seed)
BROWN – sr. Simon Jones*** (Louisville, CO; 10th at ’13 NCAAs, 18th in ’14, 12th in ’15); 5th at N’east Reg. (#7 seed)
DUKE – fr. Bryn Hammarberg (Maplewood, NJ); matched his seed by placing 8th at 2016 Mid-Atl./South Regional
INCARNATE WORD – fr. Alexander Sless (San Antonio, TX); placed 3rd at 2016 West Regional (#1 seed)
NJIT (New Jersey Inst. Tech.) – so. Eduardo Ezcurra* (Madrid, Spain; 14th at ’15 NCAAs); 7th at M-A/S Reg. (#11 seed)
NYU (New York University) – so. Hans Engel (Seattle, WA); placed 7th at 2016 Northeast Regional (as #10 seed)
SACRED HEART – fr. Romain Cannone (Katonah, NY); finished as 2016 Northeast Regional runner-up (#8 seed)
YALE – fr. Skyler Chin (North New Hyde Park, NY); huge 4th-place finish at 2016 Northeast Regional (#23 seed)
• Notable Fencers Not in 2016 NCAA Men’s Epee Field:
> Columbia jr. Brian Ro (2015 NCAA semifinalist; 6th in ’13, 12th in ’14 … placed 9th at 2016 Northeast Regional)
> Penn so. Jake Raynis (9th at 2015 NCAAs … placed 19th at 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional)
> plus 11 of the 12 returning 2016 fencers who were in the 2015 NCAA but were not All-Americans (13th-24th)
… notable graduation loss to the m-epee contingent is Sacred Heart’s Jonathan Jacovino (11th at ’14 NCAAs; 7th in ’15)
# – The at-large entrants in the 2016 men’s epee field came from the Northeast and West Regions and – based on pre-Regional seeding and Regional finish – they most likely appear to have been BC’s Peter Wetzel and Stanford’s Tristen Krueger (not officially released by the NCAA).
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ALL DATA ON THIS PAGE COURTESY OF CollegeFencing360.com – please credit accordingly
2016 NCAA MEN'S SABRE ENTRANTS
– 24-fencer field includes:
• 12 who also were in the 2015 NCAAs (plus one who was in ’13 and ’14 NCAAs but not ’15) … with the other 11 entrants including eight freshmen, plus three veterans making their NCAA debut (two seniors; one sophomore)
… the 2015 m-sabre field included 11 who had fenced in the 2014 NCAAs
• 11 former All-Americans/top–12 (Loss–Streets–Mackiewicz–Pak–Valkai–Sydorenko–Arfa–Gordon–DiTella–Shainberg–Chin), after the 2015 NCAA men’s sabre field featured 10 previous All-Americans
• Five former medal-round fencers (top–4):
> Penn State so. Andrew Mackiewicz (2015 NCAA champion)
> Penn State sr. Kaito Streets (2014 NCAA champion)
> U-Penn sr. Shaul Gordon (2013 NCAA runner-up/with PSU; ’14 NCAA semifinalist/with U-Penn)
> St. John's sr. Ferenc Valkai (2014 and ‘15 NCAA runner-up)
> St. John's jr. Roman Sydorenko (2014 and ‘15NCAA semifinalist)
… the 2015 m-sabre field included four fencers (all above) who previously had fenced in the medal round
• Seven 3-time NCAA participants (Loss, Pak, Valkai, Sydorenko, Arfa, Streets and Ryjik), plus One 4-time NCAA participant:
> Shaul Gordon (Penn State/U-Penn): 2013 NCAA runner-up, ’14 semifinalist, 15th in ‘15
… the 2015 NCAA m-sabre field included only one 4-time participant (Columbia’s Will Spear) and one 3-timer (Gordon)
• 8 freshmen, led by:
> Calvin Liang (Columbia) – 3rd at deep/talented Northeast Regional (as #3 seed)
> Jeffrey Dali (Stanford) – West Regional Champion (as #1 seed)
> Grant Williams (NYU) – 4th at Northeast Regional (as #9 seed)
… the 2015 NCAA m-sabre field included elite freshmen such as: PSU’s Mackiewicz (2015 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional champ), ND’s Jonah Shainberg (Midwest Regionalrunner-up) and Harvard’s Eli Dershwitz (Northeast Regional initial #1 seed/placed 7th)
– AND HERE ARE THE 24 NCAA MEN’S SABRE ENTRANTS for 2016:
* below – indicates number of previous appearances in the NCAA Championships
COLUMBIA – sr. Geoffrey Loss** (Laguna Beach, CA; 7th at 2014 NCAAs, 14th in ’15)
… and fr. Calvin Liang (Chandler, AZ)
> Loss was the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional runner-up (as #5 seed) while Liang matched his seed, placing 3rd
#NOTRE DAME – so. Jonah Shainberg* (Rye, NY; 12th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and so. Jonathan Fitzgerald* (East Brunswick, NJ; 20th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Fitzgerald finished at the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional runner-up (#6 seed) while Shainberg was 4th (#1 seed)
#PRINCETON – jr. Peter Pak** (Roslyn, NY; 5th at ’14 NCAAs, 9th in ’15)
… so. Edward Chin* (Livingston, NJ; 8th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Chin placed 8th to match his seed at the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional while Pak was 10th (#5 seed)
ST. JOHN'S – sr. Ferenc Valkai** (Godolio, Hungary; 2014 and ’15 NCAA runner-up)
... and sr. Roman Sydorenko** (Kiev, Ukraine; 2014 and ’15 NCAA semifinalist)
> Sydorenko won the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional (as #1 seed) while Valkai placed 7th (#2 seed)
#OHIO STATE – jr. Fares Arfa** (Laval, Quebec; 13th at ’15 NCAAs, 9th in ’14)
… so. Hector Florencia (Dallas, TX)
> Arfa won the 2016 NCAA Midwest Regional (as #5 seed) while Florencia placed 5th (#7 seed)
PENN STATE – sr. Kaito Streets** (Redwood City, CA; 2014 NCAA champion, 6th in ’15)
… and so. Andrew Mackiewicz* (Westwood, MA; 2015 NCAA champion)
> Mackiewicz won the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as #3 seed) whileStreets placed 5th (#2 seed)
PENN – sr. Shaul Gordon*** (Richmond, B.C.; ’13 NCAA runner-up/with PSU; ’14 NCAA semifinalist, 15th in ’15)
… and fr. Raphael Van Hoffelen (Vallauris, France)
> Gordon finished 4th at 2016 NCAA Mid-Atl./South Regional (as the #1 seed) while Van Hofflen was 13th (#10 seed)
DUKE – so. Pascual Di Tella* (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 5th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and sr. Charles Copti (Wyckoff, NJ)
> DiTella was the runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Mid-Atl./South Regional (as the #4 seed) while Copti was 9th (#15 seed)
NYU – fr. Grant Williams (Atlanta, GA)
… and fr. Mikolaj “Mickey” Bak (Linden, NJ)
> Williams placed 4th at the 2016 NCAA Northeast Regional runner-up (#9 seed) while Bak was 6th (#13 seed)
HARVARD – 5th-yr. sr. Alexander Ryjik** (Alexandria, VA; 22nd at ’13 NCAAs, 20th in ’14); 11th at Regional (#7 seed)
STANFORD – fr. Jeffrey Dalli (San Carlos, CA); won 2016 West Regional (as #1 seed)
NJIT (New Jersey Inst. of Tech.) – fr. Greg Puccio (Warren, NJ); 7th at ’16 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (#14 seed)
UC SAN DIEGO – sr. Drew Dickinson (Ed Dorado Hills, CA); runner-up at 2016 West Regional (as #7 seed)
YALE – fr. Walter Musgrave (Escondido, CA); placed 9th at 2016 Northeast Regional (as #8 seed)
#NORTH CAROLINA – fr. Matthew Garrelick (Cedar Grove, NJ) 11/16
• Notable Fencers Not in 2016 NCAA Men’s Sabre Field:
> Wayne State jr./so. Ziad Elsissy (7th at ’15 NCAAs) – qualified for 2’16 NCAAs/unable to compete due to Olympic bid
> Ohio State jr. Fredrick Koch (10th at ’15 NCAAs) – #2 seed at Midwest Regional but placed 7th (no NCAA berth)
> Harvard so. Eli Dershwitz (2015 NCAA semifinalis) – taking year off for Olympic bid
… graduation losses within the college men’s sabre field include four-time NCAA qualifier Will Spear of Columbia (5th at ’12 & ’13 NCAAs. 12th in ’14, 17th in ’15)
# – The two intiial at-large entrants in the 2016 men’s sabre field came from the Mid-Atlantic-South and Midwest Regions and – based on pre-Regional seeding and Regional finish – they most likely appear to have been Penn’s Raphael Van Hoffelen and Ohio State’s Hector Florencia (not officially released by the NCAA) … in addition, North Carolina’s Matthew Garrelick appears to have been a third at-large entry, after Wayne State’s Ziad Elsissy (a native of Egypt) withdrew due to a schedule conflict with his hopes to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
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2016 NCAA WOMEN'S FOIL ENTRANTS
– 24-fencer field includes:
• 12 who also were in the 2015 NCAAs (plus one in ’14 NCAAs but not ’15) … with the other 11 entrants including six freshmen, plus five veterans making their NCAA debut (two seniors; three sophomores)
… there were even more fencers (16) in the 2015 NCAAs who also were in the 2014 field
• 7 ALL-AMERICANS/top–12 (Dubrovich–Hausman–Spezzamonte–Goldie–Tsue–Harvey–Sobczak)
… the 2015 NCAAs included 10 who were previous All-Americans
• 3 former MEDAL-ROUND fencers (top–4):
> Columbia jr. Jackie Dubrovich – 2013 NCAA runner-up and ’14 semifinalist
> Ohio State so. Alanna Goldie – 2014 and ’ 5 NCAA semifinalist
> St. John’s grad. student Marta Hausman – 2015 NCAA semifinalist
… the 2015 NCAAs included five previous medal-round fencers
• Four 3-time NCAA participants (Goldie, Spezzamonte, Sobczak and Yamin)
plus four 4-time NCAA entrants:
> Columbia’s Jackie Dubrovich (2013 NCAA runner-up, ’14 semifinalist, 7th in ’15)
> St. John’s veteran Marta Hausman (2015 NCAA semifinalist, 8th at ’14 NCAAs, 11th in ’13)
> Cornell’s Angelica Gangemi (16th in ’13, 14th in ’14, 24th in ’15)
> Air Force’s Mary McElwee (15th in ’13, 18th in ’14, 13th in ’15)
… in 2015, there also were four 4th-year participants (Madi Zeiss/ND; Alina Antokhina/PSU; Ambika Singh/PRIN; and Lauren Miller/Yale) plus seven 3-timers.
• 6 FRESHMEN, most notably Notre Dame’s Sabrina Massialas, Midwest Regional Champion (as #4 seed)
… one year earlier, there was only one freshman among the 24 women’s foilists in the 2015 NCAA field (Harvard’s Makenzie Lawrence)
– AND HERE ARE THE 24 NCAA WOMEN’S FOIL ENTRANTS for 2016:
* below – indicates number of previous appearances in the NCAA Championships
COLUMBIA – sr. Jackie Dubrovich*** (Riverdale, NJ; 2013 NCAA runner-up, ’14 semifinalist, 7th in ’15)
… and jr. Sara Taffel* (team option/replacement; New York, NY; 15th at ’14 NCAAs)
> Dubrovich won the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #1 seed) while Taffel placed 4th (#3 seed)
NOTRE DAME – sr. Nicole McKee (Valley Stream, NY)
… and fr. Sabrina Massialas (San Francisco, CA)
> Massialas won the 2016 Midwest Regional (as the #4 seed) while McKee placed 4th (#6 seed)
PRINCETON– so. Ashley Tsue* (Overland Park, KS; 10th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and so. Taylor Chin (Cupertino, CA)
> Chin won the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #6 seed) while Tsue placed 4th (#2 seed)
ST. JOHN’S – grad. student Marta Hausman*** (Torun, Poland; 2015 NCAA semifinalist, 8th at ’14 NCAAs, 11th in ’13)
… and sr. Irene Spezzamonte* (Spinea, Italy; 8th at ’15 NCAAs, 10th in ’14) 5/5
> Hausman was runner-up at the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #4 seed) while Spezzamonte placed 5th (#5 seed)
OHIO STATE – jr. Alanna Goldie** (Calgary, Alberta; 2014 and ’15 NCAA semifinalist)
… and jr. Eleanor Harvey* (Hamilton, Ontario; 9th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Goldie was runner-up at the 2016 Midwest Regional (as the #3 seed) while Harvey placed 3rd (#1 seed)
HARVARD – so. Makenzie Lawrence* (Leawood, KS; 20th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and fr. Liana Henderson-Semel (Milwood, NY)
> Smal matched her seed by placing 9th at the 2016 Northeast Regional while Lawrence placed 13th (#7 seed)
CORNELL – sr. Angelica Gangemi*** (16th at ’13 NCAAs; 14th in ’14, 24th in ’15)
... and sr. Ediona Sera* (Williston Park, NY; 22nd at ’15 NCAAs)
> Sera placed 6th at the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #8 seed) while Gangemi was 10th (#6 seed)
WAYNE STATE – jr. Zuzanna Sobczak** (Gdansk, Poland; 11th at ’15 NCAAs, 14th in ’14)
… and fr. Kasia Lachman (Poznan, Poland)
> Lachman placed 6th at the 2016 Midwest Regional (as the #9 seed) while Sobczak finished 7th (#5 seed)
PENN – fr. Simone Unwalla (Great Falls, VA); placed 6th at 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as #9 seed)
DUKE – fr. Kristen Coury (Far Hills, NJ); matched seed by placing 7th at 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional
NJIT (New Jersey Inst. of Tech.) – so. Jule Shigihara (Bonn, Germany); 3rd at Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (#8 seed)
#NORTHWESTERN – jr. Jen Yamin** (Allendale, NJ; 15th at ’15 NCAAs, 23rd in ’14 NCAAs); 9th at Regional (#8 seed)
TEMPLE – sr. Demi Antipas (Stony Brook, NY); impressively was runner-up at 2016 Mid-Atl./South Reg. (as #20 seed)
YALE – fr. Jenny Zhao (Brampton, Ontario); placed 11th at Northeast Regional (#13 seed)
AIR FORCE – jr. Mary McElwee*** (San Fran.; 15th at ’13 NCAAs, 18th in ’14, 12th in ’15); West Reg. champ/#1 seed
UC SAN DIEGO – so. Sophia Holmqvist (Upper Saddle River, NJ); runner-up at West Regional (#2 seed)
• Notable Fencers Not in 2016 NCAA Women’s Foil Field:
> Notre Dame sr. Lee Kiefer (3-time NCAA champ; 2013–15) – Olympic hopeful
> Columbia sr. Margaret Lu (2015 NCAA runner-up – Olympic hopeful
> Penn State sr. Clarisse Luminet (7th at NCAAs in ’13 and ’14; 6th in ’15) – did not compete in 2016 Regional
> Temple sr. Fatima Largaespada (3-time NCAA entrant)
… graduation losses to the women’s foil field include four 4-time qualifiers: ND’s Madi Zeiss (’14 runner-up; ’13 semifinalist; 8th in ’12, 5th in ’15) … Alina Antokhina/PSU (’12 semifinalist) … Princeton 3-time All-American Ambika Singh and Yale’s Lauren Miller (top fiishes: 7th in ’12 and 12th in ’15).
# – Both of the at-large entrants in the women’s foil field came from the Midwest Region and – based on pre-Regional seeding and Regional finish – they most likely appear to have been Northwestern’s Jen Yamin and Wayne State’s Kasia Lachman (not officially released by the NCAA).
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ALL DATA ON THIS PAGE COURTESY OF CollegeFencing360.com – please credit accordingly
2016 NCAA WOMEN'S EPEE ENTRANTS
– 24-fencer field includes:
• 14 who also were in the 2015 NCAAs … meaning 10 in the 2016 NCAA field are making their NCAA Tournament debut (six of them freshmen, see below, plus one sophomore, one junior and a pair of seniors: ND’s Catherine Lee and Temple’s Jessica Hall)
… the 2015 NCAA w-epee field included nine who were in the 2014 NCAAs
• 8 former ALL-AMERICANS/top–12 (Radanovich, Garcia, Wines, Speta, Ford, Zuikova, Falqui and Barrett)
… the 2015 NCAA w-epee field had included only five previous All-Americans (Radanovich; ND’s Ashley Severaon and Nicole Ameli;Duke’s Sarah Collins and Harvard’s Emma Vaggo)
• 3 former MEDAL-ROUND fencers (top–4):
> NJIT so. Julia Garcia (2015 runner-up)
> Cornell jr. Victoria Wines (2015 semifinalist)
> Penn State jr. Jessie Radanovich (2014 semifinalist), was only former medal-round fencer in 2015 NCAA w-epee field
• Four 3-time NCAA participants (Radanovich, Wines, Speta and Falqui) but no 4-time NCAA entrants:
… in 2015, Harvard’s Vaggo and Duke’s Collins were 4-time NCAA qualifiers (there were two 3-timers) )
• 6 FRESHMEN, among them:
> Harvard’s Sharon Ra – placed 3rd at Northeast Regional (as #14 seed)
> Stanford’s duo of Cantel Yang (West Regional champ, as #4 seed) and Belinda Mo (Regional runner-up, as #1 seed)
… in 2015, there also were six freshman women’s epee entries in the NCAAs, led by: Veronika Zuikova (St. John’s) – Northeast Regional runner-up … Julia Garcia (NJIT) – Mid-Atlantic/South Regional 3rd place … and Rebecca Rose (Stanford) – West Regional champion
– AND HERE ARE THE 24 NCAA WOMEN’S EPEE ENTRANTS for 2016:
* below – indicates number of previous appearances in the NCAA Championships
COLUMBIA– jr. Mason Speta** (Chicago, IL; 11th at 2015 NCAAs, 21st in ’14)
… and so. Katie Angen* (New York, NY; 18th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Angen turned in a 5th-place finish at the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #7 seed) while Speta was 11th (#5 seed)
NOTRE DAME – sr. Catherine Lee (Elizabethtown. NY)
… and fr. Madeline Antekeier (Houston, TX)
> Lee won the 2016 Midwest Regional (as the #3 seed) while Antekeier was 7th (#3 seed)
PRINCETON – jr. Isabel Ford* (Portland, OR; 7th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and fr. Charlene Liu (Bridgewater, NJ)
> Ford placed 5th at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #2 seed) while Liu was 6th (#4 seed)
ST. JOHN’S – so. Veronika Zuikova* (Tallinn, Estonia; 12th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and so. Ally Ryf (team option/replacement; Houston, TX)
> Zuikova won the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #2 seed) while Ryf was 7th (#4 seed)
OHIO STATE – jr. Eugenia Falqui** (Rome, Italy; 8th at ’15 NCAAs, 22nd in ’14)
… and fr. Emma von Dadelszen (Vancouver, B.C.)
> Falqui was runner-up at the 2016 Midwest Regional (as the #4 seed) while von Dadelszen placed 4th (#8 seed)
PENN STATE – jr. Jessie Radanovich** (Fresno, CA; 2014 NCAA semifinalist, 5th in ’15)
… and sr. Jessica O’Neill-Lyublinsky* (North Salem, NY; 13 at ’14 NCAAs)
> O’Neill was runner-up at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #9 seed) while Radanovich placed 3rd (#1 seed)
HARVARD – fr. Shawn Wallace (Singapore)
… and fr. Sharon Ra (New City, NY)
> Ra placed 3rd at the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #14 seed) while Wallace was 6th (#3 seed)
STANFORD – fr. Belinda Mo (Irvine, CA); runner-up at 2016 West Regional (#1 seed)
… and jr. Chantel Yang (East Northport, NY); won 2016 West Regional (as #4 seed)
NORTHWESTERN – jr. Juliana Barrett* (New York, NY; 10th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and 5th-yr.-sr. Courtney Dumas* (Cleveland, OH; 15th at ’12 NCAAs)
> Barrett placed 3rd at the 2016 Midwest Regional (as the #5 seed) while Dumas finished 6th (#1 seed)
TEMPLE – so. Safa Ibrahim* (Bronx, NY; 16th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and sr. Jessica Hall (Parsippany, NJ)
> Hall placed 4th at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #12 seed) while Ibrahim was 9th (#3 seed)
DUKE – jr. Isabella Barna* (Bend, OR; 19th at ’15 NCAAs); 13th at Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (#7 seed)
NJIT (New Jersey Inst. of Tech.) – so. Julia Garcia* (Madrid, Spain; ’15 NCAA r-up); won Mid-Atl./So. Reg. (#10 seed)
CORNELL – jr. Victoria Wines** (Somers, NY; 2015 NCAA semifinalist, 14th in ’14); 2nd at N’east Reg. as #1 seed
BOSTON COLLEGE – so. Renee Bichette* (Orlando, FL; 21st at ’15 NCAAs); 8th at Northeast Regional (#17 seed)
• Notable Fencers Not in 2016 NCAA Women’s Epee Field:
> Princeton seniors/Olympic hopefuls Cat Holmes (2012 semifinalist) and Anna Van Brummen (2015 semifinalist)
> BC sr. Olivia Adragna (13th at ’13 NCAAs, 20th in ’15)
> Penn jr. Alejandra Trumble (14th at ’15 NCAAs)
… the epee field’s notable graduation losses include: 2015 NCAA champion Isis Washington of St. John’s 17th at ’14 NCAAs) … the ND duo of Nicole Ameli (11th at ’12 NCAAs, 8th in ’14, 13th in ’15) and Ashley Severson (5th in ’12, 10th in ’14, 9th in ’15) … Harvard’s Emma Vaggo (9th in ’14 NCAAs; 14th in ’12 & ’13, 9th in ’14, 6th in ’15) … and Duke’s Sarah Collins (13th in ’12, 18th in ’13, 12th in ’14, 15th in ‘15)
# – The at-large entrants in the women’s epee field came from the xxxx and xxxx Regions (one each) and – based on pre-Regional seeding and Regional finish – they most likely appear to have been xxxx and xxx (not officially released by the NCAA).
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2016 NCAA WOMEN'S SABRE ENTRANTS
– 24-fencer field includes:
• 11 who also were in the 2015 NCAAs (plus two in ’14 NCAAs but not ’15) … meaning there also are 11 who are making their NCAA Tournament debut (5 of them freshmen, see below)
… the 2015 NCAA field included nine who also had been in the 2014 NCAAs (plus one from ’13 but not in ’14)
• 9 former ALL-AMERICANS/top–12 (Kakhiani, Stone, Jarocki, Itzkowitz, Russo, Ivanoff, Johnson, McDonald and Lew)… in the 2015 NCAA field, there were only six previous All-Americans
• 5 former MEDAL-ROUND fencers (top–4):
> Notre Dame so. Francesca Russo (2015 champion)
> Harvard jr. Adienne Jarocki (2014 champion)
> Harvard sr. Aliya Itzkowitz (2014 runner-up)
> Princeton sr. Gracie Stone (2013 & ’14 semifinalist)
> Penn State jr. Teodora Kakhiani (2014 & ’15 semifinalist)
… the 2014 NCAA field also included five previous medal-round fencers (all above except Russo, plus UNC’s Gillian Litynski, a 2013 semifinalist)
• Six 3-time NCAA participants (Jarocki, Itkowitz, Kakhiani, McDonald, Gomez and Greene), plus one 4-time NCAA entrant:
> Princeton’s Gracie Stone (2013 and ’14 semifinalist; 8th in ’15)
… the 2014 NCAA field field included 4-time entrants Jillian Litynski of UNC and Brown’s Christine Whalen
• Only 5 total FRESHMAN entries among the 24, with top regional finishes from:
> Wayne State’s Pati Palczynska – Midwest Regional champion (as #7 seed)
> Stanford’s Carly Weber-Levine – West Regional champion (as #4 seed)
> UCSD’s Leanne Singleston-Comfort – West Regional runner-up (as #1 seed)
… In 2015, the nine freshman women’s sabre entries in the NCAAs included the likes of: Karen Chang (Penn State) – Mid-Atlantic/South Regional champion … Julie Saint-Cricq (Wayne State) – Midwest Regional champion … Lena Johnson (Columbia) – Northeast Regional runner-up … Francesca Russo (Notre Dame) – Midwest Regional runner-up … Anastasia Ivanoff (Columbia) – Northeast Regional 4th-place … and Jennifer Ling (Duke) – Mid-Atlantic/South Regional 4th-place … of those listed above, several are not in the 2016 NCAA field: Chang (Olympic hopeful for Hong Kong), Saint-Cricq and Ling.
– AND HERE ARE THE 24 NCAA WOMEN’S SABRE ENTRANTS for 2016:
* below – indicates number of previous appearances in the NCAA Championships
COLUMBIA – so. Anastasia Ivanoff* (Los Angeles, CA; 5th at 2015 NCAAs)
… and so. Lena Johnson* (Peachtree City, GA; 9th at ’15 NCAAs)
> Johnson placed 3rd at the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #4 seed) while Ivanoff was 7th (as #2 seed)
NOTRE DAME – so. Francesca Russo* (Wayne, NJ; 2015 NCAA champion)
… and fr. Tara Hassett (Portland, OR)
> Russo was the 2016 Midwest Regional runner-up (as the #1 seed) while Hassett placed 5th (#3 seed)
PRINCETON – sr. Gracie Stone*** (Chicago, IL; ’13 & ’14 NCAA semifinalist, 8th at ’15 NCAAs)
… and sr. Desirae Major (Olathe, KS)
> Major won the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #8 seed) while Stone placed 3rd (#4 seed)
ST. JOHN'S – sr. Margaret McDonald-Smith** (Atlanta, GA; 15th at ’15 NCAAs, 13th in ’13)
… and jr. Mathilda Taharo (Lyon, France)
> Taharo placed 4th at the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #3 seed) while McDonald was 8th (as #6 seed)
PENN STATE – jr. Teodora Kakhiani** (Tbilisi, Rep. of Georgia; 2014 and ’15 NCAA semifinalist)
… and so. Kathryn Charpin (Setauket, NY)
> Kakhiani placed 4th at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (as the #6 seed) while Charpin was 7th (#5 seed)
HARVARD – jr. Adienne Jarocki** (Middle Village, NY; 2014 NCAA champion, ’15 semifinalist) 2/1
… and sr. Aliya Itzkowitz** (London, England; ’14 NCAA runner-up, 11th in ’15) 1/5
> Itzkowitz won the 2016 Northeast Regional (as the #5 seed) while Jarocki was runner-up (#1 seed)
OHIO STATE – jr. Alexa Antipas (Stony Brook, NY; 6th at ’14 NCAAs); placed 3rd at Midwest Regional (as #5 seed)
PENN – so. Arabelle Uhry (New York, NY); placed 5th at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (#18 seed)
STANFORD – fr. Carly Weber-Levine (East Seatauket, NY); won 2016 West Regional (as #4 seed)
DUKE – so. Haley Fisher* (Kennesaw, GA; 18th at ’15 NCAAs); placed 8th at 2016 Mid-Atl./South Regional (#2seed)
#NORTHWESTERN – jr. Alisha Gomez-Shah** (Wayne, NJ; 12th at ’15 NCAAs, 18th in ’14) 6/2
#TEMPLE – sr. Petra Khan (Beaverton, OR); ; placed 14th at the 2016 Mid-Atlantic/South Regional (#1 seed)
CORNELL – fr. Zoee D’Costa (Skillman, NJ); placed 5th at 2016 Northeast Regional (as #12 seed)
WAYNE STATE – fr. Pati Palczynska (Konstancin-Jeziorna, Poland); won 2016 Midwest Regional (as #7 seed)
UC SAN DIEGO – fr. Leanne Singleston-Comfort (Marysville, CA); runner-up at 2016 West Regional (as #1 seed)
SACRED HEART– jr. Julia Greene** (Califon, NJ; 21st at ’14 NCAAs, 24th in ’15); placed 12th at Regional (#9 seed)
YALE – jr. Joanna Lew (Durham, NC; 12th at ’14 NCAAs); finished 9th at 2016 Northeast Regional (#10 seed)
NORTH CAROLINA – so. Meredith Bozentka (Philadelphia, PA); ; placed 6th at the 2016 Mid-Atl./South Reg.(#7seed)
• Notable Fencers Not in 2016 NCAA Women’s Sabre Field:
> Penn State so. Karen Chang (Hong Kong; 2015 NCAA runner-up)
> Princeton so. Allison Lee (7th at ’14 NCAAs)
> Northwestern jr. Cindy Oh (10th at ’14 NCAAs)
> Notre Dame so. Claudia Kulmacz (13th at ’14 NCAAs)
> Wayne State so. Julie Saint-Cricq (14th at ’14 NCAAs)
> Stanford jr. Alexa Rohan* (16th at ’14 NCAAs, 17th in ’15)
> Former Ohio State fencer Kimberly Young (16th at ’14 NCAAs)
… Chang, Lee and Oh all are former All-Americans … graduation losses to the NCAA sabre field include a pair of 4-time entrants: UNC’s Gillian Litynski (’13 NCAA semifinalist, 6th in ’15, 8th in ’14, 18th in ’12) and Brown’s Christine Whalen (19th at ’12 NCAAs, 10th in ’13, 14th in ’14, 19th in ’15)
# – The at-large entrants in the 2016 women’s sabre field came from the Northeast and Midwest regions and – based on pre-Regional seeding and Regional finish – they most likely appear to have been Temple’s Petra Khan and Northwestern’s Alisha Gomez (not officially released by the NCAA).
ALL DATA ON THIS PAGE COURTESY OF CollegeFencing360.com – please credit accordingly
2015 NCAA Fencing Headshot/Info. Galleries (courtesy CF360):
Men’s Foil | Men’s Epee | Men’s Sabre | Women’s Foil | Women’s Epee | Women’s Sabre