UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams finished the first round of postseason competition at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Championships hosted at Haverford College on Saturday, March 7.
The Nittany Lions faced competition from schools across the Mid-Atlantic and South regions to compete for NCAA Championship qualification, including Haverford, Wagner, Princeton, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Temple, North Carolina, NJIT, Stevens, Drew, Fairleigh Dickinson and UPenn.
Qualifiers for the NCAA National Fencing Championship will be announced on Tuesday, March 10 on the NCAA website.
MEN’S EPEE
Men’s epee competed in the first round of competition. Senior Tingwei Xu led the Nittany Lions with a 10th place finish. Senior Zachary Suico came in 14th place, Mohamed Yassin with a 15th place finish and senior Sultan Hassan rounded out the men’s epee squad with a tie for 23rd overall.
WOMEN’S EPEE
Penn State saw three Nittany Lions finish within the top ranks during the regional round of competition. Allegra Cristofoletto led Penn State in the women’s epee rankings with a 14th place finish. Sophia Abashidze earned a 22nd place finish and freshman Yuna Tamura earned a 30th place finish.
MEN’S FOIL
Spencer Burke earned the highest overall place for the Nittany Lions, finishing in 6th place. Tit Nam Cheng placed next for Penn State followed by a tie between Alessio Fukuda and Julian Chin for 16th place overall. Yaroslav Muruhin finished in 2t4th overall to complete the rankings for Penn State men’s foil.
WOMEN’S FOIL
On the women’s side, Senior Samantha Catantan earned the highest overall place for the Nittany Lions, completing the regionals round of competition with a 1st place finish in women's foil. Eden De La Cruz is the second Nittany Lion to earn a spot within the top 10, with a 9th place finish and Thea Fernandes placed 25th overall and senior Clarisse Tan finished in 29th overall.
MEN’S SABER
Senior Neil Lilov led the Penn State men’s saber team with a 5th place finish overall. Freshman Tyson Deck earned a 14th place finish with Carlos Fernando Chacon rounding out the men’s saber fencers with a 20th place finish overall.
WOMEN’S SABER
For the women’s squad, Senior Steph Jen finished in 9th place, with Eunyu Kim who earned a 12th place finish for the women’s saber team. Senior Mia Novick finished in 29th.
NEXT UP
Penn State will prepare for the NCAA National Fencing Championship that will be hosted in South Bend, In. at the University of Notre Dame. The championships will begin on Thursday, March 19 and finish on Sunday, March 22. The women will compete first on Thursday and Friday followed by the men on Saturday and Sunday.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Follow along with the Penn State Fencing team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateFen) and X/Instagram (@pennstatefen). Live updates during competitions regarding meet day information and other important notes will be posted on X.