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Summer Nationals 2025

2025 Summer Nationals, Day 4 Recap: Golden Moments Across Generations

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by Nicole Kirk & Greer Strine

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — For 62 years, Frank Hewitt (Cabrillo Academy of the Sword LLC) has participated in the sport of fencing and is still taking home big titles as he earned one of 12 gold medals awarded on Tuesday, the fourth day of the 2025 Summer Nationals. 


Hewitt claimed the title of national champion in the Vet-80 Men’s Epee competition, remaining victorious in this event after winning numerous times this year already at both January and April North American Cups.


“It goes to show you, you can continue to play this sport as a carry over sport, just like golf or tennis or one of those sports, right?” Hewitt said. “That’s fencing I’ve been playing since 1963 so that’s 60 some years. I stopped counting at 60.”


Hewitt attributes his success and motivation to his late coach. “Coach Hurst, my coach of many decades, rides here on my right shoulder,” Hewitt said. “You saw him in action. Whispered in my right ear in the finals about when I was down two touches. It was not an easy bout to win, a comeback that high up in the number of touches scored, right? So he’s here whispering.”


Tommi Hurme (Olympian Fencing Club) also climbed to the top of the podium and was named to the world team in Vet-40 Men’s Epee. A successful season brought Hurme to a full-circle moment after approximately 20 years since making a world team.


“I had a very consistent season, my first season in Vet-40,” said Hurme. “So that was, that was kind of the goal. I wanted to see how far I could take it. I made a world team when I was a junior about 20 years ago.”


Although Hurme ended with a gold medal, this season brought him some challenges due to injury, but was aided by a physical therapy regimen that kept him competing.


“I had tendonitis in my arm, tennis elbow,” Hurme said. “I did about six weeks of PT, and you know, worked on getting stronger, and I felt like it really helped.” 


Siobhan Sullivan (University of Notre Dame & Oregon Fencing Alliance) expresses pride in her accomplishments through the support from those surrounding her during bouts. Throughout the year, Sullivan has been preparing for winning moments like this. 


Although just returning from another competition, Sullivan was able to win gold at Summer Nationals in Division I women’s saber.


“Well, we just came back from the Pan American championships, so that was kind of a big travel time to come back,” Sullivan said. “But we’ve been preparing, like all summer, all year, and it’s just fun to see the progress and keep going.”


Individually, Sullivan expressed the feeling of pride within herself for her accomplishments, but it was truly those around her who heightened her emotions. 


“Definitely, just the environment of being with my teammates at OFA, at Notre Dame, my coaches, Christian Racioni, my parents, it just makes everything so much more worth it. And I really, really value all those people who are in my life.”

Day 4 Results — Top 8

Division I Women’s Epee

Gold: Hadley Husisian (Fencers Club Inc. & Princeton)

Silver: Kasia Nixon (Peter Westbrook Foundation & Fencers Club Inc.)

Bronze: Ketki Ketkar (Western Washington Division)

Bronze: Maria Roberta Agata Casale (Maximum Fencing Club)

5th: Natalya Cafasso (Olympia Fencing Center)

6th: Sumin Lee (Columbia University & Battle Born Fencing Club)

7th: Kyle Fallon (Fencing Academy of Westchester & University of Notre Dame)

8th: Scarlett Lee (New York Fencing Academy)

Division I Women’s Saber

Gold: Siobhan Sullivan (University of Notre Dame & Oregon Fencing Alliance)

Silver: Aria Bevacqua (Manhattan Fencing Center)

Bronze: Keira Lauri (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

Bronze: Lola Possick (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy & University of Notre Dame)

5th: Delilah Huai (Premier Fencing Academy)

6th: Natalie Tsui (Manhattan Fencing Center)

7th: Trisha Nath (Stamford Fencing Center & Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Atara Greenbaum (University of Notre Dame & Alle Fencing Club)

Division I Men’s Foil

Gold: Borys Budovskyi 

Silver: Ethan Gassner (Golden State Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Elijah Onik (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy & Boston College)

Bronze: Bryce Louie (LA International Fencing & University of Pennsylvania)

5th: Samarth Kumbla (New York Athletic Club & Silicon Valley Fencing Center)

6th: Arwen Borowiak (Golden State Fencing Academy)

7th: Shoei Hashimoto (LA International Fencing)

8th: Mason Stanley (University of Notre Dame & Jovanovic Fencing)

Division IA Women’s Foil

Gold and National Champion: Alina Zhang (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

Silver: Emma Griffin (University of Notre Dame & Precision Athletics Fencing Club)

Bronze: Sophia Li (Birmingham Fencing Club)

Bronze: Emma Fung (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)

5th: Annabelle Chow (V Fencing Club)

6th: Keira Castaneda (Silicon Valley Fencing Center & Rain City Fencing Center)

7th: Alexis Chew (Golubitsky Fencing Center)

8th: Steliana Strugar (Northwest Fencing Center)

Division IA Men’s Saber

Gold: Masanobu Miyasaki-Castro (South Bay Fencing Academy)

Silver: Krish Kilari (Fencing Academy of Denver)

Bronze: Samuel Wang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona & Avant Garde Fencers Club)

Bronze: Ansh Ghayalod (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club & New York University)

5th: Alexander Pi (PDX Fencing)

6th: Heonjun Cheong (Sabio Fencing Academy)

7th: William Laub (International Fencing Club)

8th: Kevin Liu (Manhattan Fencing Center & Bergen Fencing Club)

Cadet Men’s Epee

Gold: Simon Shan (Dynamo Fencing)

Silver: Andy Zheng (Guanyi Fencing Academy & Twin Cities Fencing Club)

Bronze: A.J. Trull (Marx Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Hongrui Yue (Canada)

5th: Benjamin Mao (Medeo Fencing Club)

6th: Jeff Li (Hong Kong)

7th: Alexander Mitev (Windy City Fencing-Chicago)

8th: Boden Lai (Marx Fencing Academy & Cavalier Fencing Club)

Vet-40 Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Tommi Hurme (Olympian Fencing Club)

Silver: Kyle Yamasaki (East Bay Fencers Gym & San Luis Highlanders Fencing Club)

Bronze: Sergey Danilov (New York Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jens Stephan (German Fencing Academy)

5th: Adam Maczik (Marx Fencing Academy)

6th: Donovan Holtz (Peter Westbrook Foundation)

7th: Alexander Tsinis (New York Athletic Club & North Shore Fencers Club)

8th: Jim Conklin (Windy City Fencing-Chicago)

Vet-50 Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Mehmet Tepedelenlioglu (East Bay Fencers Gym)

Silver: Daniel (Dan) Krogh (Northwest Fencing Center)

Bronze: John Teitenberg (Nashville Academy of Fencing)

Bronze: Michael Springer (LEO Fencing Club)

5th: Justin Hunter (East Bay Fencers Gym)

6th: Andrew Prihodko (Vivo Fencing Club)

7th: Joseph Deucher (DC Fencers Club)

8th: Jonathan Bartlett (New York Athletic Club & Rockland Fencers Club)

Vet-60 Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Walter Dragonetti (Battle Born Fencing Club & Hooked On Fencing)

Silver: Mark Nixon (LA International Fencing)

Bronze: Jeff Hudson (Hudson Centers for the Martial Arts)

Bronze: Carl Loeffler (LA International Fencing)

5th: Julio Mazzoli (Olympia Fencing Center)

6th: Fred Frank (Northwest Fencing Center)

7th: David Jensen (Fortune Fencing)

8th: Timothy Gillham (Madison Fencing Academy)

Vet-70 Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Timothy Glass (Ataba Fencing Club)

Silver: John Moreau (Olympian Fencing Club)

Bronze: Chuck Alexander (No Fear Fencing)

Bronze: Charlie Schneider (Plymouth/Ann Arbor Fencing Academy)

5th: James Newsome (Tidewater Fencing Club)

6th: Mark Wheeler (Windy City Fencing-Chicago & Academy of Fencing Masters)

7th: Tom Lutton (Denver Fencing Center)

8th: Joe Rouse (Rogue Fencing Academy & The Phoenix Center)

Vet-80 Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Frank Hewitt (Cabrillo Academy of the Sword LLC)

Silver: Steve Amich (Wisconsin Division)

Bronze: Mark Henry (Chevy Chase Fencing Club)

Bronze: Stephen Neff (Fencing Academy of Philadelphia - University City)

5th: Donald Anderson (New Mexico Fencing Foundation)

6th: Jose Deolivares (Cardinal Fencing Academy)

7th: James Gallivan (Fortune Fencing)

8th: Tung-Shan (Fritz) Chang (NEMA Fencing Center)

Veteran Team Women’s Epee

Gold: Coastal Blades (Meghan Pinchuk, Caterina Rovati and Yamara Escalante)

Silver: Poor Life Choices (Haejung Hofman, Kira Hansen, Heidi Chang and Sandra Marchant)

Bronze: MidAtlantic Marauders (Marie Lawson, Nicole Polanichka, Charlotta Bowie and Klaudia Shick)


Day 4 Photos

Find the gallery here.

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