2025 Summer Nationals, Day 5 Recap: Deep Breaths, Brainy Moves and Strong Connections as Tournament Reaches Halfway Point
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by Bryan Wendell, Nicole Kirk & Greer Strine
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — When he won the Vet-70 Men’s Saber event at the April NAC, Jacaeber Kastor (Manhattan Fencing Center) spoke about the wonderful community in fencing and how he’s made friends for life in the sport.
This time, after winning a national championship — one of 17 gold medals awarded on Wednesday, the fifth day of the 2025 Summer Nationals — he shared another reason he loves the sport: It’s a chance to win.
“Last time, I was all about, ‘Oh, there's all this camaraderie and everything’ — that's great,” he says. “But at the end of the day, it's trying to figure out a way to beat these people.”
Kastor says that sports like fencing, which offer countless asymmetrical challenges for body and mind, can help strengthen the brains of people as they get older.
“What I really like about it is, for people my age, it’s so great to have something to practice and to work at,” he says. “I originally got into this sport to literally develop new neural channels into my brain. I think it's just super, super healthy to try to learn something new.”
Kastor says that he even notices when the air circulation in the venue changes. As the tournament progressed and the competition moved into the replay pods, he noticed the air seemed fresher.
“It felt fresh,” he says. “I literally could feel, like, prana energy — just breathing, felt I felt better. And I felt like my brain was a little more focused.”
When that happens, he says, a fencer can start to feeling momentum snowball.
“I tell you, the touches just build on each other. A touch is like a little charge of energy,” he says. “You get two in a row. Three in a row. It starts to build.”
Georgina Love (Space Coast Olympic Fencing) can feel her momentum building, too, as she qualifies for another Veteran Fencing World Championships.
The Vet-60 Women’s Foil champion says that she loves Vet fencing because of the chances to regularly reconnect with friends who share the same passion for fencing.
“It's fun, because we see each other a couple times a year, but it's like the link is never broken,” she says. “We're always on the same page. We room with our roommates, and we want to kill them on the strip — you know the story — but it's a wonderful family, and everybody's supportive. They support you when you're up; they support you when you're down. It's a good family.”
Speaking of family, Patricia Bedrosian (Salle Couturier)’s family was onsite to watch herwin a
Vet-80 Women’s Foil national championship just a day after being inducted into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame.
Bedrosian, who is no stranger to pressure-packed moments on the strip, says that the most nerve-racking moment so far was her acceptance speech at the Hall of Fame dinner.
“I was really, really nervous, but having my family there — my brother, my two kids, my stepchildren — that was really special,” she says. “They came a long way to honor me, and I was grateful for that.”
Meanwhile, in the day’s other Vet-80 event, Men’s Saber champion Donald Anderson (New Mexico Fencing Foundation) says he appreciates being part of a lifelong sport.
“I've loved fencing ever since I started in college,” he says, “and I'm just happy that I can continue to fence at my advanced age.”
Day 5 Results — Top 8
Cadet Women’s Foil
Gold: Viviene Goor (Massialas Foundation)
Silver: Joy Liu (Golubitsky Fencing Center)
Bronze: Yuqiao Aprille Song
Bronze: Soleil Zhang
5th: Caterina Fedeli (Epic Fencing Club)
6th: Adelle Chun
7th: Addison Ho (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
8th: Chloe Sun (SoCAL Fencing Center)
Cadet Women’s Saber
Gold: Xuanyi Zhang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona & Spartak)
Silver: Delilah Huai (Premier Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Irmak Senoglu (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago & US Sabre Academy)
Bronze: Merci Oca (Cali Fencing)
5th: Sahana Gautam (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)
5th: Sofiia Vinogorova (Fencing Academy of Denver)
7th: Yifei Liu (Manhattan Fencing Center)
8th: Hannah Kwon (Globus Fencing Academy)
Cadet Men’s Foil
Gold: Lucas Senic (Renaissance Fencing Club)
Silver: Youlong Lin (LA International Fencing)
Bronze: Diego Fukuda (Massialas Foundation (M Team))
Bronze: Kyle Chen (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)
5th: Derek Liu (Star Fencing Academy)
6th: Sage Rasmussen (Massialas Foundation (M Team))
7th: Borys Budovskyi
8th: Luca Nicoletti (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
Division II Men’s Epee
Gold and National Champion: Zoryan Petrow (Penta Olympic Fencing Club)
Silver: Nathaniel Crespo (Hills Fencing Institute)
Bronze: Oscar Loiseau (Escrime du Lac)
Bronze: Victor Gao (Long Island Fencing Center)
5th: Caleb Mathes (Northwest Fencing Center)
6th: Hunter Decker (Alliance Fencing Academy)
7th: Miles Marencik (Denver Fencing Center)
8th: YiHeng Chen (Wanglei International Fencing Club)
Vet-40 Women’s Foil
Gold and National Champion: Inga Cho (Renaissance Fencing Club)
Silver: Sarah Lippai (Salle Auriol Seattle)
Bronze: Kate Dusinlleux (Exeter Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Kathleen Reckling (Fencers Club Inc.)
5th: Lacey Maddox (Charlotte Fencing Academy)
6th: Polina McGrath (Plymouth & Ann Arbor Fencing Academy)
7th: Kathryn Pierrynowski (Research Triangle Fencing)
8th: Soyeon Lippman (Salle Auriol Seattle)
Vet-50 Women’s Foil
Gold and National Champion: Morgane Bhatt (Halberstadt Fencers' Club & West Berkeley Fencing Club)
Silver: Julie Seal (Valkyrie Fencing Club)
Bronze: Doina Bogdan (United Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Jane Carter (Marx Fencing Academy & Tanner City Fencers Club)
5th: Judith Bassik (Ohio Fencing Center)
5th: Margaret Kerr (Worcester Fencing Club)
7th: Cornelia Jolitz
8th: Ann Totemeier (Northern Colorado Fencers & Denver Fencing Center)
Vet-60 Women’s Foil
Gold and National Champion: Georgina Love (Space Coast Olympic Fencing)
Silver: Cathleen Randall (Forge Fencing Teams DUR)
Bronze: Mary Jo Ratchford (Iowa City Fencing Center)
Bronze: Allison Treloar (Salle de Long Fencers)
5th: Bonnie Hennig-Trestman (Research Triangle Fencing)
6th: Elizabeth Badger Merritt
7th: Kathleen Hermes (Fencers School of Connecticut)
8th: Myriam Gluck (Columbus International Fencing Academy & Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)
Vet-70 Women’s Foil
Gold and National Champion: Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Connecticut Fencers Club & Marx Fencing Academy)
Silver: Anne-Marie Walters (Masters Fencing Club)
Bronze: Joanne Stevens (Fencers Club Inc.)
Bronze: Jude Offerle (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago & University of Notre Dame)
5th: Lynnette Whitt
6th: Harriet Eckstein (Presidio Fencing Club)
7th: Marsha Reichman (Fencing Sports Academy, Inc. & Capital Fencing Academy)
8th: Nora Gutkovskaya (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)
Vet-80 Women’s Foil
Gold and National Champion: Patricia Bedrosian (Salle Couturier)
Silver: Bettie Graham (Chevy Chase Fencing Club)
Bronze: Erica Julien (Forge Fencing Teams DUR)
Bronze: Janet Robinson
Vet-40 Men’s Saber
Gold and National Champion: Mahmoud Elbakry (Alpha Fencing Academy)
Silver: Douglas Miller (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)
Bronze: Jerry Liu
Bronze: Pietro Ferraro (Capital Fencing Academy)
5th: William Chang (Capital Fencing Academy & Fencing Sports Academy, Inc.)
6th: Max Terentiev (Fencing Academy of Westchester)
6th: Shirui Zhu (Lone Star Fencing Center)
8th: Joseph Greene (Denver Fencing Center)
Vet-50 Men’s Saber
Gold and National Champion: Kim Phillips (Zeta Fencing)
Silver: Ronald Thornton (Capital Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Lester Chen (West Coast Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Michael Bacon (Manhattan Fencing Center)
5th: Tony Escueta Jr (Globus Fencing Academy)
6th: Justin Meehan (Orion Fencing)
7th: Matthew Zoller (Fencing Academy of Denver)
8th: Sergey Makogon (Triple Threat Fencing Academy)
Vet-60 Men’s Saber
Gold and National Champion: William Becker (Jacksonville Fencing Club)
Silver: Richard Herrera (PDX Fencing)
Bronze: Steven Heck (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation)
Bronze: Val Kizik (IndySabre)
5th: Stephen Dashnaw (Lilov Fencing Academy)
6th: Chris Dahl (Fencing Academy of Boston)
7th: Chris Matt (Capital Fencing Academy)
8th: Brent Myers (Southwest Florida Fencing Academy & Manhattan Fencing Center)
Vet-70 Men’s Saber
Gold and National Champion: Jacaeber Kastor (Manhattan Fencing Center)
Silver: Garik Gutman (Capital Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Joseph Streb (Columbus International Fencing Academy & Royal Arts Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Michael Szathmary
5th: David Seuss (Fencing Academy of Boston)
6th: Donald Malnati (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation)
7th: Keith Baker (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation)
8th: Paul Rosenthal (Sheridan Fencing Academy & Sheridan Fencing Academy of Westchester)
Vet-80 Men’s Saber
Gold and National Champion: Donald Anderson (New Mexico Fencing Foundation)
Silver: Cristobal Castro (International Fencing Club)
Bronze: James Gallivan (Fortune Fencing)
Bronze: Fritz Chang (NEMA Fencing Center)
Senior Team Women’s Epee
Gold: The Labubus (Hadley Husisian OLY, Leehi Machulsky, Tierna Oxenreider and Natalia Toby)
Silver: Wisconsin Wet Willies (Chelsea Chi, Catherine Feng, Jolie Korfonta and Sierra Springer)
Bronze: Peter Westbrook Foundation (Kyle Fallon, Lake Mawu Sheffield, Skye Sheffield and Isis Washington)
Senior Team Men’s Saber
Gold: All Around the Globus (Taylor Chon, Tony Escueta, Rubin Hong and Bernard Witek)
Silver: Globus I (Collin Chon, Christopher Guffey, Elijah Kim and Kendrick Kim)
Bronze: South Bay Fencing Academy (Alexander Jeffords, Masanobu Miyasaki-Castro and Giuseppe Perna)
Veteran Team Men’s Epee
Gold: EBFG 3 (Justin Hunter, Keith Lichten, Mehmet Tepedelenlioglu and Kyle Yamasaki)
Silver: Why You Choose Team Fencing? (Brandon Chu, Nick Hallman, Tommi Hurme and Josh Potter)
Bronze: The JSB Experience (Benjamin Atkins, Jon Normile and Sergey Danilov)
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