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Summer Nationals 2025

2025 Summer Nationals, Day 6 Recap: New Champs, Lofty Goals and Renewed Rivalries

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by Bryan Wendell, Nicole Kirk & Greer Strine

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A season ago, Aziza Hassan (Durkan Fencing Academy & Peter Westbrook Foundation)’s near-perfect season (silver, gold, gold) would’ve left her with some good vibes as she entered the bulk of summer.


This year, thanks to the FIE (International Fencing Federation) adding the Vet-40 category to its Veteran Fencing World Championships, Hassan’s season isn’t quite done.


By winning a national championship in Vet-40 Women’s Saber on Thursday, Hassan earned a spot on Team USA for the Vet World team. Hers was one of 12 gold medals awarded on the sixth day of the 2025 Summer Nationals.


“This is my 25th season fencing competitively,” she says. “And for 25 years, I've been trying — but everything worked perfectly this year.”


Hassan says the chance to represent the United States on the international stage is an honor she won’t take lightly.


“It's going to mean a lot,” she says. “Because, for us, fencing is a lifestyle. We love everything about the sport. For me, competing was always something I had in my heart. But I tried other things, like refereeing, coaching. But to actually find my competition and start winning is everything. It's everything.”


Julie Seal (Valkyrie Fencing Club) knows all about that “winning is everything” mindset. She views both wins and losses as motivational, using disappointments as fuel for improvement.


Seal will represent Team USA at Vet Worlds in both Vet-50 Women’s Foil and Vet-50 Women’s Saber. Including the team and individual events in each, that’s a potential for four gold medals.


”My goal is four gold medals. Nothing less, nothing less,” she says. “It doesn't matter how many times I fail, and honestly, it doesn't matter how many times I succeed. It's always the goal. It's always what I want, forever.”


She also wants to keep fencing as often as possible. In fact, after receiving her medal for Vet-50 Women’s Saber, Seal switched into her foil gear to compete in Vet Team Women’s Foil that same day.


“There's never enough fencing,” she says. “I'm a little bit of an addict. I should probably start a group — like fencers anonymous, something like that. I just do it over and over again, like a heartbeat.”


For Lydia Fabry (Avant Garde Fencers Club & Fortune Fencing), an ongoing rivalry in Vet-60 Women’s Saber has been like its own kind of heartbeat. One tournament she gets gold, the next silver, and the pattern repeats.


“I said, I’ve got to stop this 50/50,” she says. “I’ve got to make something change. So I decided to find it.”


That something was Michael Vlad Costin, her new coach. 


“He's a great coach,” she says. “Instead of just teaching me the basic lessons, he really understands how I fence and gives me lessons that add to what I already have. That has made a difference that was noticeable on the strip today.”


Day 6 Results — Top 8

Division IA Women’s Saber

Gold and National Champion: Kelia Dang (Premier Fencing Academy)
Silver: Sophia Mann (Cardinal Fencing Club & The Fencing Center)
Bronze: Rainer Dragon (Fencing Academy of Westchester)
Bronze: Jayna Davis (Fencing Academy of Denver & Lawrence University)
5th: Alissa Khan (Dynamo Fencing Center Inc.)
6th: Heartlyn Tabangay (Midwest Fencing Club)
7th: Sydney Liu (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)
8th: Cindy Xiao (Lone Star Fencing Center)

Division IA Men’s Foil

Gold and National Champion: Arjun Deshmukh (Austin Fencers Club)

Silver: Skipper Cortright (Bay Area Fencing Club)

Bronze: Gabriel Guerra (Metro Tacoma Fencing Club)

Bronze: Martin Nguyen (LA International Fencing)

5th: Owen Jiang (Moe Fencing Club LLC)

6th: William Bailey (Bluegrass Fencers' Club)

7th: Owen Traugot (Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Eric Min (Northwest Fencing Center)

Division IA Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Ziad Khayat (Academy of Fencing Masters — AFM)

Silver: Robert Hondor (Olympia Fencing Center)

Bronze: Alex Soderberg (Lionheart Fencing Academy & Coeur du Lion Fencing Club & Team Touche Fencing Center)

Bronze: Dashan Xia (Cavalier Fencing Club & Fencers Club Inc.)

5th: Joshua Riggins (Elite Fencing Academy — GA & Elite Fencing Academy — VA)

6th: Sebastian Glennon (Charlotte Fencing Academy)

7th: Jacob Lu (Kaizen Academy LLC)

8th: Jakub Nowak (Illinois Fencing Academy)

Division III Women’s Foil

Gold and National Champion: Kara Villarama (Elite Fencing Club)

Silver: Katherine Han (Renaissance Fencing Club)

Bronze: Ava Hobson (Massialas Foundation — M Team)

Bronze: Gabriela Magallanes (Masters Fencing Club)

5th: Zena Park (Auburn Fencing Club)

6th: Lauren Andonian (United Fencing Academy)

7th: Gian Han (Team Touche Fencing Center)

8th: Mia Han (Rain City Fencing Center)

Y-14 Men’s Saber

Gold and National Champion: Daniil Kovalev (West Coast Fencing Academy)

Silver: Damian Cricol (Premier Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jonathan Ng (Durkan Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Donald Cao (West Coast Fencing Academy & LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)

5th: Jacob Sanchez (San Diego Fencing Center)

6th: Aster Oh (Scarsdale Fencing Center & Fencers Club Inc.)

7th: Miles Chambers (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

8th: Jayden Hwang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)

Y-14 Women’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Regina Lee (Swords Fencing Studio)
Silver: Macy Franger (Escrime Du Lac)
Bronze: Luxi Guo (Yang Fencing Club)
Bronze: Sophia Habek (East Bay Fencers Gym)
5th: Anika Adyanthaya (Medeo Fencing Club)
6th: Sama Abuelfutuh (Olympic Epee Masters)
7th: Caroline Li (Wanglei International Fencing Club)
8th: Gabrielle Flitman (Tampa Fencing & Tennis Academy)

Vet-40 Women’s Saber

Gold: Aziza Hassan (Durkan Fencing Academy & Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Silver: Emily Grajales (Stoccata Fencing Academy & Club)
Bronze: Jing Zhao (Las Vegas Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Laura Johnson (Nellya Fencers)
5th: Agnieszka Koszyk (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)
6th: Valentina Mindirgasova (Spartak)
7th: Elisabet Chiarelli (Scarsdale Fencing Center)
8th: Daria Vinogorova (Fencing Academy of Denver)

Vet-50 Women’s Saber

Gold and National Champion: Julie Seal (Valkyrie Fencing Club)

Silver: Yelena Kalkina (Oregon Fencing Alliance)

Bronze: Kate Sierra (Wagner College)

Bronze: Nona Lim (United Fencers of Oakland)

5th: Jamie Willemse (PDX Fencing & LA International Fencing)

6th: Liz Enochs (United Fencers of Oakland)

7th: Natalia Oblonsky (Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Jody Ambalong (Premier Fencing Academy)

Vet-60 Women’s Saber

Gold: Lydia Fabry (Avant Garde Fencers Club & Fortune Fencing)

Silver: Robin Pernice (Dynamo Fencing Center)

Bronze: Myriam Gluck (Columbus International Fencing Academy & Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)

Bronze: Jenny Yang (Nellya Fencers)

5th: Robin King (Salle Auriol Seattle)

6th: Rebecca Freyre (Fencing Academy of Denver & Denver Fencing Center)

7th: Anita Degen (Salle Auriol Seattle)

8th: Barbara Shinn-Cunningham (Corsair Fencing School & Carnegie Mellon University Fencing Club)

Vet-70 Women’s Saber

Gold: Jeannine Bender (Capital Fencing Academy)
Silver: Karen Lum (San Francisco Sabre School)
Bronze: Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Connecticut Fencers Club & Marx Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Jude Offerle (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago & University of Notre Dame)
5th: Heidi Runyan (Spartak)
6th: Lori Radich (Hangtown Saber Club & The Fencing Center)
7th: Fay Vittetoe (Iowa City Fencing Center)
8th: Anne-Marie Walters (Masters Fencing Club)

Veteran Team Men’s Saber

Gold: Small Mafia (William Becker, Medhat Elbakry, Ahmed Hamdy Refaee and Mahmoud Elbakry)

Silver: Kevin and Yutong Missed Their Flight (Mamdou Abousamra, Jerry Liu, Jonathan Seidel and David Tsung)

Bronze: The Troublemakers (Stephen Dashnaw, Pietro Ferraro, Dmitri Kopylov and Chris Matt)

Veteran Team Women’s Foil

Gold: 4 Anchors (Morgane Bhatt, Polina McGrath, Kathleen Reckling and Julie Seal)
Silver: Team FeNCe (Margaret Kerr, Jane Carter, Inga Cho and Ida Choy)
Bronze: Foil Femmes Fatales (Judith Bassik, Celine De La Foscade-Condon, Cornelia Jolitz and Lacey Maddox)


Day 6 Photos

Find the gallery here.


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