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2025 Summer Nationals, Day 2 Recap: An Olympian’s Big Comeback and a Champion’s Mental Focus

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by Bryan Wendell & Nicole Kirk

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — It’s been 333 days since Eli Dershwitz OLY and Team USA fenced in the Men’s Saber team event at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.


While Dershwitz has been coaching fencers from Tim Morehouse Fencing Club in the weeks and months since, he’d taken a short break from competing at domestic tournaments.


Well, it’s safe to say he’s all the way back after earning gold in Division I Men’s Saber — one of seven awarded on Sunday, the second day of the 2025 Summer Nationals. 


“It's been a long time since I got gold in action, so it feels pretty good,” he says. “It's been several years. I haven't done much U.S. competition in the last few years, so it feels nice to get some good fencing down.” 


To prepare, it was a whole club effort. Not only does Dershwitz compete but he also coaches the younger kids at TMFC. To prepare, he talked about the amount of work he put in. 


“It's been grueling days of training, camps, lessons, classes and stuff,” he says. “So I'm really happy about the work we put in as a club getting here. I'm really happy that a lot of our younger guys really performed well the last two days, and I'm excited for the next eight days in Milwaukee watching them continue to compete.”


The sole national crown awarded today went to Alisa Yang (Guanyi Fencing Academy) in Division IA Women’s Epee. 


She said her toughest bout was right after pools — her first direct elimination bout. 


“I think I was still kind of tight, and I wasn't warmed up,” he says. “I went into it with a lot of pressure, because I was seeded first after pools.”


But she powered through and ignored that target on her back — reminder herself to just have fun.


“I'm in the top eight, and then, from there, I just didn't really care anymore,” she says. “After that, it was all about staying loose and having fun.”


Having fun was part of Xuanyi Zhang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona & Spartak)’s pre-Summer Nationals plan, too. 


“We had camp for like two weeks, and then we played a lot of games. We also had days off,” she says. “So I guess that was my preparation.”


In addition to preparing physically, Zhang kept herself mentally prepared — especially during the one-minute break after the eighth touch in saber.


“My coach always tells me to clear my mind during the break,” she says. “He tells me to not be worried about the score — just don't think about it at all.”

Day 2 Results — Top 8

Division I Men’s Saber

Gold: Eli Dershwitz OLY (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

Silver: Samuel Rightler (The Ohio State University & Ohio Fencing Center)

Bronze: Jaden Callahan (Columbia University & Boston Fencing Club)

Bronze: Emilio Gonzalez (Scarsdale Fencing Center & Fencers Club)

5th: Khalil Thompson OLY (Peter Westbrook Foundation & Fencers Club)

6th: Shaun Kim (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

7th: Noah Te Velde (Peter Westbrook Foundation & Fencers Club)

8th: William Lim (Globus Fencing Academy)

Division IA Women’s Epee

​​Gold and National Champion: Alisa Yang (Guanyi Fencing Academy)

Silver: Maia Peck (Team Touche Fencing Center)

Bronze: Auprell Edwards (Alliance Fencing Academy & Temple University)

Bronze: Zoe Wang (Cavalier Fencing Club)

5th: Emma Bush (San Diego Fencing Center)

6th: Katherine Nemeth (Alliance Fencing Academy)

7th: Christina Martinez (Miami Fencing Academy & Miami Christian School)

8th: Karen Bei (Boston Fencing Club & Team Touche Fencing Center)

Junior Women’s Saber

Gold: Xuanyi Zhang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona & Spartak)

Silver: Martina Fernandez (Nellya Fencers)

Bronze: Trisha Nath (Stamford Fencing Center & Manhattan Fencing Center)

Bronze: Doris Huang (Manhattan Fencing Center & Axis Fencing Club)

5th: Sophie Liu (Capital Fencing Academy)

5th: Natalie Tsui (Manhattan Fencing Center)

7th: Charmaine Andres (Cali Fencing)

8th: Carina Festa (Manhattan Fencing Center)

Junior Men’s Foil

Gold: Conrad Lo (Massialas Foundation (M Team))

Silver: Aiden Siu (SoCal Fencing Center)

Bronze: Nickolas Rusadze (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club (Port Chester))

Bronze: Peter Bruk (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)

5th: Castor Kao (Star Fencing Academy & Yale University Fencing)

6th: Liam Bas (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy & University of Notre Dame)

7th: Jacob Lee (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)

8th: Youlong Lin (LA International Fencing)

Vet Team Men’s Foil

Gold: Let's Party (Stephen Jan, Rey Lopez, Dong-Ying Pai and Zhiyong Zhao)

Silver: All Gas No Brakes (Jay Bhatt, Talon Frost, Michael Green and Craig Harkins)

Bronze: misFITs (Thibaut De Barros Conti, Yasmany Diaz Hernandez and Leo Popokh)

Senior Team Men’s Epee

Gold: Alliance Red (William East, Alexander Fray, Stewart Lee and Anton Piskovatskov)

Silver: NYAC Red (James Kaull, Jack Piasio, Ian Sanders and Ari Simmons)

Bronze: Olympia Fencing Center (Gabriel Feinberg, Robert Hondor, George Mattis and Miles Weiss)

Senior Team Women’s Foil

Gold: Nott Retired Yet (Anika Breker, Adi Nott and Morgan Partridge)
Silver: Shenanigans (Emilia Shen, Lydia Shen and Sophia Shen)
Bronze: Fencers Club (Kimberley Jang, Nina Markovsky, Nia Orbe-Austin and Melody Fujiao Tang)


Day 2 Photos

Find the gallery here.


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