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Summer Nationals 2025

2025 Summer Nationals, Day 7 Recap: Winning Mindsets, Good Advice and ‘Jiayou’

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by Bryan Wendell & Nicole Kirk

A fencer smiles in reaction to a winning touch.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Comebacks are an exciting part of every fencing tournament. Again and again, one opponent trails by a handful of touches and battles back to take the lead and win.

But what’s going through the mind of the fencer who sees their lead dwindling away? How can they withstand the comeback attempt to get the win?

Andy Zheng (Guanyi Fencing Academy & Twin Cities Fencing Club) knows the feeling. He had a healthy lead in his Round of 32 match before his opponent fought back to tie the bout at 14. 

“My mindset is, when they're coming back, every single point they get, I act like I still have the lead,” he says. “I just completely ignore it, reset and fence like it’s priority. I work for every touch as much as I can.”

He won that bout 15-14 and kept winning until he reached the top of the podium in Y-14 Men’s Epee to earn one of seven gold medals awarded on the seventh day of the 2025 Summer Nationals.

Zheng, who had represented Team USA in Cadet Men’s Epee at the Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships in April, says that experience gave him the confidence that he can maintain any lead or come back from any deficit. 

“It was an amazing trip. It felt surreal, competing in front of a bunch of people,” he says. “It also gave me a lot of insight to help me learn to reset after each point.”

Zheng, like all great fencers, knows he doesn’t do this alone. He has a whole team behind him, cheering on every touch.

“It really means a lot that you came to watch and support me,” he says. “And I'll shout out my coach, and of course, my mom and my dad for always supporting me and paying the fees so I can be here holding this trophy right now.”

As support systems go, it’s tough to beat the one cheering on Alathea-Joy Ku (Globus Fencing Academy). After each touch, the Division II Women’s Saber champion heard her Globus teammates cheer "jiayou," a Chinese word meaning "keep going."

“It just felt like I had everyone behind me,” she says. 

That cheering section wasn’t the only reason for A.J.’s first national medal. All that training paid off, too.

“It's really the daily grind that gets you the results,” she says. “So even if you've been training harder and harder, but the results don't come, eventually it will break.”

Jane Yu (Top Fencing Club) knew going into the Division II Women’s Foil competition that it would be her last time competing in the event. She’ll move up to a higher division next season.

But even though the goal was to win gold, she followed that classic advice from fencing coaches: take one bout at a time.

“I was just telling myself that I just need to fence the best that I can,” she says. “Don't focus on winning.”

That was, it turns out, the winning formula for Yu.

And she has some advice for other would-be champions.

“Trust yourself,” she says. “You know yourself better than anyone, so just have confidence.”

Day 7 Results — Top 8

Division II Women’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Claire Norconk (Traverse City Fencing Club)

Silver: Varvara Lobanova (Arena Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Isabel Lin (Davis Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Emilia Salistra (Bay Area Fencing Club)

5th: Isabella Beatie (Woodlands International Fencing Club)

6th: Sophie Wang (Marx Fencing Academy & NEMA Fencing Center)

7th: Chrissa Kazmierowski (Bozeman Fencing Association)

8th: Yeriel Lee (Battle Born Fencing Club)

Division II Women’s Foil

Gold and National Champion: Jane Yu (Top Fencing Club)

Silver: Hansika Aadhi (Plymouth & Ann Arbor Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Savannah Li (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club (Port Chester))

Bronze: Crystal Han (Metro Tacoma Fencing Club & Rain City Fencing Center)

5th: Elise Dimatulac (V Fencing Club)

6th: Claire Kim (Top Fencing Club)

7th: Kylie Wynn (Golubitsky Fencing Center)

8th: Sophie Lenk (Massialas Foundation (M Team))

Division II Women’s Saber

Gold and National Champion: Alathea-Joy Ku (Globus Fencing Academy)

Silver: Maya Golovitser (South Bay Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Sofia Schaible (American Institute of Fencing & Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)

Bronze: Mya Spears (New Jersey Fencing Alliance & Peter Westbrook Foundation)

5th: Ellery Singer (Midwest Fencing Club)

6th: Anishka Raghuraman (Sacramento Saber Fencing LLC)

7th: Adelyn Tan (Cardinal Fencing Club)

8th: Valentina Zheng (Lilov Fencing Academy)

Division II Men’s Foil

Gold and National Champion: Benjamin Clark (Space City Fencing Academy)

Silver: William Neice (Northwest Fencing Center)

Bronze: Charlie Lim (Polaris Fencing Center)

Bronze: John Kettelle (Massialas Foundation (M Team) & Still Point Fencing)

5th: Lorenz Finney (Marin Fencing Academy)

6th: James Cha (Top Fencing Club)

7th: Marcus Zheng (Renaissance Fencing Club)

8th: Jack O'Brien (Iconic Fencing Club & Fairfield County Fencing Academy AKA Fairfield Fencing Academy)

Division II Men’s Saber

Gold and National Champion: Ayden Li (Southern California Fencing Academy (SOCALFA))

Silver: Evan Kang (Premier Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jono Gay (Premier Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Aneesh Kotvali (Globus Fencing Academy)

5th: Neiyam Sadhu (Aura Fencing Academy)

6th: Devin Zayas (Phoenix Fencing Academy)

7th: Stanton Hernandez (Midwest Fencing Club)

7th: Lucas Suba (Peter Westbrook Foundation & Fencers Club Inc.)

Y-14 Men’s Epee

Gold and National Champion: Andy Zheng (Guanyi Fencing Academy & Twin Cities Fencing Club)

Silver: Dylan Elhusseini (Alliance Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Kyle Elhusseini (Alliance Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Steven Wu (Academy of Fencing Masters)

5th: Dashan Xia (Cavalier Fencing Club & Fencers Club Inc.)

6th: Aman Singleton (Olympia Fencing Center)

7th: James Boudreaux (Elite Fencing Academy (VA) & Elite Fencing Academy (GA))

8th: Allen Chen (Wanglei International Fencing Club & Swords Fencing Studio)

Veteran Team Women’s Saber

Gold: Goddess Gang (Inga Cho, Eileen Foley, Yelena Kalkina and Julie Seal)

Silver: Drinking Team with a Fencing Problem (Elizabeth Earls, Emily Grajales, JG Habala and Agnieszka Koszyk)

Bronze: Swordid Ladies (Cheryl Maslen, Yoko Oishi, Jamie Willemse and Lynn Zhang)

Day 7 Photos

Find the gallery here.

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