February NAC 2026 Day 2 Recap: Gold Rush in Cincinnati

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by Nicole Kirk

Cincinnati, Ohio -  The second day of the February North American Cup, there were so many more smiles as gold medals were collected in individual and team events.

Paralympian Byron Branch made his way back to competition after taking some time off post paralympic games. Not only did he compete for the first time in a bit, he took home gold. Branch said “It feels really good. I just haven't fenced in quite a while. It's my first event back since the Paris game. So it was nice to be back out here and be in a competitive atmosphere again.”


Working in Branch’s favor, this competition is local to him so he really had the opportunity to make everything work in his favor, “ I kind of just wind down gear wise. I try to just relax, really focus on the basics. When I'm here, it's a lot less stressful because I'm not tired from traveling. Ironically enough, it is only 50 minutes from my house, so it is very easy for me to come down here, relaxed, well rested. Then I come in, I kind of just do the basics, work through the motions, make sure everything, as far as the fundamentals are concerned, are all there, and I just work on that.”


The Troublemakers standing at the top of the podium for the veteran men’s saber team event, laughed and said our vibe is “we let the young guy finish as the anchor.” 


The team that has been competing together for almost a decade, has learned to lean on each other. As Nick Ferrara pointed out, “we all know what we're doing on the strip, so we're all very supportive of just sort of like pointing out things that are useful and how to to score points against the other guys.”


Julie Seal (Valkyrie Fencing Club) collected her second and third gold medals of the weekend as she took top finishes in both the Vet-50 women’s foil event, and the veteran team women’s saber event. 


As she was competing in both events today, and coming off of winning just 12 hours prior, her secret to success was K-Pop. 


“I'm in my K-Pop era. I started with K-Pop Demon Hunters, but I moved on, now I'm hooked, and I'm in my Black Pink era. T they have this song Jump, and I just have hyper focused on it, maybe for a month now. So all I do is get up, I listen to that song and then I'm ready to go.”

Day 2 Results


Junior Women’s Épée

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

Silver: Jolie Korfonta (DC Fencers Club & Savage Fencing Club)

Bronze: Regina Lee (Swords Fencing Studio)

Bronze: Catherine A. Witter (Elite Fencing Academy & EFA)

5th: Angelica Xiong (Northwestern University & Twin Cities Fencing Club)

6th: Scarlett Lee (New York Fencing Academy)

7th: Sunia Xu

8th: Chloe Wang (Cavalier Fencing Club & Marx Fencing Academy)


Junior Women’s Saber

Gold: Charmaine Andres (Cali Fencing)
Silver: Sarah Zeng (Manhattan Fencing Center)
Bronze: Xuanyi Zhang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona & Spartak)
Bronze: Yuju Jeon (Scarsdale Fencing Center)
5th: Keira Lauri (Z1 Fencing Club)
6th: Natalie Tsui (Manhattan Fencing Center)
7th: Aria F. Bevacqua (Manhattan Fencing Center)
8th: Evelyn Jiang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)


Div I Men’s Saber

Gold: Emilio Gonzalez (Scarsdale Fencing Center & Fencers Club Inc.)

Silver: Grant Williams (New York Athletic Club)

Bronze: Silas Choi (Globus Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Lev C. Benavram (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation & National Capital Fencers Club)

5th: Mitchell S. Saron (New York Athletic Club & Scarsdale Fencing Center)

6th: Darren Yen (New York Athletic Club & Integrity Fencing Studio)

7th: Darii Lukashenko (Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Cody Walter Ji (Nellya Fencers)


Parafencing Women’s Foil

Gold: Jataya Taylor (Denver Fencing Center & Invictus Fencing)
Silver: Stephanina Michaelis (Valkyrie Fencing Club)
Bronze: Shelby J. Mitchell (Valkyrie Fencing Club)
Bronze: Cora Weeks (Denver Fencing Foundation & Denver Fencing Center)
5th: Leslie Irby (Nellya Fencers & Shepherd Swords Fencing Club)
6th: Marley Timko (Denver Fencing Center)
7th: Mary Porter (Orion Fencing)
8th: Nicole Contos (Denver Fencing Foundation & Denver Fencing Center)


Parafencing Men’s Foil

Gold: Byron Branch

Silver: Tareq Alqallaf (Zeljkovic Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Paul Herin Iii (Shepherd Swords Fencing Club & Orion Fencing)

Bronze: Timothy Birt (Shepherd Swords Fencing Club & Auburn Fencing Club)


Vet-40 Women’s Foil

Gold: Inga Cho (Renaissance Fencing Club)

Silver: Christina Kaneshige (Polaris Fencing Center & Denver Fencing Center)

Bronze: Polina McGrath (Plymouth/Ann Arbor Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Kathryn Pierrynowski (Research Triangle Fencing)

5th: Traci Sethre (Fargo-Moorhead Fencing Club)

6th: Jocelyn Chuang (OnTarget Fencing Club)

7th: Sarah Lippai (Salle Auriol Seattle)

8th: Macy Lau-Allen (Richmond Fencing Club)


Vet-40 Men’s Épée
Gold: Tommi K. Hurme (Olympian Fencing Club)

Silver: Nick Hallman (Austin Fencers Club)

Bronze: Solomon Liou (Wanglei International Fencing Club & Medeo Fencing Club)

Bronze: Adam W. Maczik (Marx Fencing Academy)

5th: Jim Conklin (Windy City Fencing-Chicago)

6th: Cameron D. Sprowles (Salle Auriol Seattle)

7th: Sandor I. Mandoki (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)

8th: Vadim Makmatov (Salle Auriol Seattle)


 Vet-50 Women’s Foil

Gold: Julie Seal (Valkyrie Fencing Club)

Silver: Lacey Maddox (Charlotte Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Pam Dressel (OnTarget Fencing Club)

Bronze: Margaret Fagan (Fencers Club Inc.)

5th: Ann Totemeier (Northern Colorado Fencers & Denver Fencing Center)

6th: Kate Frenzinger (AZ United Fencing Club)

7th: Doina Bogdan (United Fencing Academy)

8th: Diane Ferguson (Olde Town Fencing Club)


Vet-50 Men’s Épée
Gold: Aaron Gaines (No Fear Fencing)
Silver: Iliya Mechkov (Cavalier Fencing Club)
Bronze: Joseph H. Deucher (DC Fencers Club)
Bronze: Philip S. Hedges (Academy of Fencing Masters (AFM))
5th: Chris S. O'Loughlin (New York Athletic Club)
6th: Keith H. Lichten (East Bay Fencers Gym)
7th: Jeffrey H. Snider (DC Fencers Club & Penta Olympic Fencing Club)
8th: Darren Barreiro (Atlantic Fencing Academy)


Vet-60 Women’s Foil

Gold: Margaret Kerr (Worcester Fencing Club & Iconic Fencing Club)

Silver: Badger Merritt

Bronze: Georgina Love (Space Coast Olympic Fencing)

Bronze: Bonnie Hennig-Trestman (Research Triangle Fencing)

5th: Allison Treloar (Salle De Long Fencers)

6th: Sara Kass (Cyranos Place)

7th: Viveka Fox (Vermont Fencing Alliance)

8th: Dorothy Smith (South Denver Fencing Academy)


Vet-60 Men’s Épée

Gold: Sean Ameli (Battle Born Fencing Club)
Silver: Walter E. Dragonetti (Battle Born Fencing Club & Hooked on Fencing)
Bronze: Rick Watrall (New York Athletic Club)
Bronze: Jeff Hudson (Hudson Centers for the Martial Arts)
5th: Fred Frank (Northwest Fencing Center)
6th: Bradley C. Ochs (Traverse City Fencing Club)
7th: Michael McDonnell
8th: Wayne N. Frey (Florida State University Fencing Club)


Vet-70 Women’s Foil

Gold: Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Connecticut Fencers Club & Marx Fencing Academy)

Silver: Lynnette A. Whitt (Maryland)

Bronze: Jude Offerle (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago & University of Notre Dame)

Bronze: Harriet A. Eckstein (Santa Barbara Fencers Club)

5th: Joanne B. Stevens (Fencers Club Inc.)

6th: Muriel C. Cawthorn (Rhode Island Fencing Academy and Club)

7th: Gemin Channing (Capitol)

8th: Sharone A. Huey (Brooklyn Fencing Center)


Vet-70 Men’s Épée
Gold: John A. Moreau (Olympian Fencing Club)

Silver: Timothy C. Glass (Ataba Fencing Club)

Bronze: Kerry J. Swick (DC Fencers Club)

Bronze: Lou Mariani (The Fencing Center)

5th: Bruce M. Jugan (Santa Barbara Fencers Club & Swords Fencing Studio)

6th: Dwain Blakley (Alliance Fencing Academy)

7th: Dick Richards (DC Fencers Club)

8th: Gerard C. Downey (East Bay Fencers Gym)


 Vet-80 Women’s Foil

Gold: Bettie Graham (Chevy Chase Fencing Club)

Silver: Erica Julien (Forge Fencing Teams DUR)

Bronze: Mary Turzillo


Vet-80 Men’s Épée

Gold: Bruno Goossens

Silver: Frank Hewitt (Cabrillo Academy of the Sword LLC)

Bronze: Theodore Pary (DC Fencers Club)

Bronze: Jonathan Jefferies (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)

5th: Mark Henry (Chevy Chase Fencing Club)

6th: Donald Anderson (New Mexico Fencing Foundation)

7th: James Gallivan (Fortune Fencing)

8th: Michael Mehall


Veteran Women’s Épée

Gold: Lacey Biniak (Northwest Fencing Center & Orion Fencing)
Silver: Cassandra Bates (Marx Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Meghan Phair (Riverside Fencing Club)
Bronze: Kira Hansen (East Bay Fencers Gym & Academy of Fencing Masters (AFM))
5th: Sandra Marchant (Rogue Fencing Academy & The Phoenix Center)
6th: Kristin Foellmer (DC Fencers Club)
7th: Anna K. Marcotte (Northern Colorado Fencers)
8th: Marie Lawson (DC Fencers Club)



Veteran Men’s Foil

Gold: Stephen Jan (Metropolitan NYC)

Silver: Marek Wyszynski (Fencers Club Inc.)

Bronze: Andrey Tyshchenko

Bronze: Dong-Ying Pai (Twin Cities Fencing Club)

5th: John W. Lawrence (Masters Fencing Academy NJ)

6th: Thomas Hennig (Blue Ridge Fencing Center)

7th: Rick Fulton (Golden State Fencing Academy & Halberstadt Fencers' Club)


Veteran Team Women’s Saber

Gold: Wonder Women (Eileen Foley, Yelena Kalkina, Nona Lim and Julie Seal)

Silver: International Sabre Syndicate (Agnieszka Koszyk, Giselle Martinez Elizalde and Jing Zhao)

Bronze: Swordid Ladies (Liz Enochs, Cheryl L. Maslen, Jamie Willemse and Lynn Y. Zhang)


Veteran Team Men’s Saber

Gold: Troublemakers (Nicholas Ferrara, Dmitri Kopylov, Chris Matt and Ronald Thornton)

Silver: 2da Left And 2daright (Richard Colter, Joseph Greene and Jason Mighell)

Bronze: Four Swordsmen Of The Apocalypse (Chris Dahl, Mariusz Dolegiewicz, Tony V. Escueta Jr and Matthew Zoller)

Day 2 Photos 

Find all of the great photos from Day 1 here.