March 2026 NAC, Day 1 Recap: Young Champions Shine as Cleveland Competition Begins
by Bryan Wendell
CLEVELAND, Ohio — For Cole Tabancay (South Bay Fencing Academy), a simple Monday morning question at school — What did you do this weekend? — can require quite the explanation.
“They don't really believe me that I'm the No. 1 fencer in the world,” he says. “I just tell them that I won this competition, and that I’m really good at the sport, and that's really all.”
His latest evidence arrived Friday in Cleveland: a Y-10 Men’s Saber gold medal at the March 2026 North American Cup, one of six titles awarded on the opening day of competition.
Explaining fencing itself can sometimes be the harder task. Tabancay says he’s learned that the best way to describe the sport is to invite friends to try it.
Otherwise?
“They just think it's just hitting each other, and then whoever hits each other first gets the touch,” he says. “They don’t know there’s multiple types of fencing.”
Understanding those nuances — timing, strategy and balance — is what makes fencing such a dynamic sport.
Anya Liu (Rain City Fencing Center), the Y-10 Women’s Foil gold medalist, says her style reflects that balance. While she’s known for strong defensive skills, she’s learned that success also requires knowing when to shift gears.
“I love defense,” she says. “But when I was younger, I was just doing defense and I barely did any attacking. My defense is still really good now, but I've also realized that I can't just stay back. Because there's obviously times where you have to go, you have to run at them.”
Liu credits her coaches — and her family — for helping her develop that confidence.
“I would really like to thank all my coaches and the club for helping me train and then giving me suggestions,” she says. “And I also like to thank my parents because they’re there to give me water and support me.”
Confidence was also on display in Y-14 Women’s Epee, where Ifechi Olele (Elite Fencing Academy) earned gold with a performance she rates as a perfect score.
“With a gold medal, it’s easy to say today was a 10 out of 10,” she says.
Still, Olele says results alone don’t define success in fencing. Sometimes the most important lessons come even on days when the medal isn’t gold.
“Sometimes you can end a competition with a loss, but you still take something away from it,” she says. “It's like, even though I don't win, I still fenced well. That's like a win.”
Day 1 Medalists
Y-10 Women’s Foil
Gold: Anya Liu (Rain City Fencing Center)
Coaches: Greg Jones, Garik Balayan, Georges Enguerran
Silver: Bridgette Chen (Dynamo Fencing Club)
Bronze: Gloria Wu (Dynamo Fencing Club)
Bronze: Sakina Saifee (Precision Athletics Fencing Club)
5th: Karalina Byk (Star Fencing Academy)
6th: Emma Huang (Renaissance Fencing Club)
7th: Joann Wang (Mid-Island Fencing Academy)
8th: Selene Zhang (Dynamo Fencing Club)
Y-10 Men’s Epee
Gold: Lucas Yoo (TeamK Fencing)
Coaches: Coach K, Coach Zach, Coach Young
Silver: Asher You (Elite Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Benjamin Fu (Yang Fencing Club)
Bronze: Yihong Liu (Yang Fencing Club)
5th: Aneesh Bontha (Supreme Fencing Academy)
6th: Alexander Yi (Swords Fencing Studio)
7th: Kingston Li (Dynamo Fencing Club)
8th: Henry Yin (Cavalier Fencing Club)
Y-10 Men’s Saber
Gold: Cole Tabancay (South Bay Fencing Academy)
Coaches: Matteo Gallo, Maverick Doherty, Gaspare Faugiana
Silver: Aaron Ye (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)
Bronze: Luca Chen (Bre-Les Dynamiques De Brebeuf)
Bronze: Henrik Wang (Cali Fencing)
5th: Simon Hu (Manhattan Fencing Center)
6th: Hubert Junhu Lee (Southern California Fencing Academy (Socalfa))
7th: Russell Wang (Cobra Fencing Club LLC)
8th: Leonidas Constantine (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
Y-14 Women’s Epee
Gold: Ifechi Olele (Elite Fencing Academy)
Coaches: Ayman Fayez, Nada Mostafa
Silver: Helena Holden (Alliance Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Claire Pei (Alliance Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Gloria Lee (Elite Fencing Academy)
5th: Anna Hernasa (Swords Fencing Studio & Irvine Fencing Center)
6th: Serena Xu (Bida Fencing Academy & Cavalier Fencing Club)
7th: Tini Carceller (Epee Miami Fencing Club)
8th: Kalina Dobrosavljević (Red Door Fencing)
Y-14 Women’s Saber
Gold: Evelyn Jiang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)
Coaches: Coach Park, Coach Wang, Coach James, Angelina, Roger
Silver: Saeren Kim (Southern California Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Tara Kaul (Nellya Fencers)
Bronze: Charlotte Choi (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
5th: Alexandria Fan (Miracle Fencing Club)
6th: Rana Dhar (Capital Fencing Academy)
7th: Ashmiee Gaikwad (Cali Fencing)
8th: Soleil Castelo (Manhattan Fencing Center)
Y-14 Men’s Foil
Gold: Haoxuan He (Mountain Fencing)
Coaches: Zhang Jie
Silver: Veyron Jericho Lozano (LA International Fencing)
Bronze: Timofey Simonov (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)
Bronze: Edison Li (Dynamo Fencing Club)
5th: Anson Chen (Fencing Institute of Texas)
6th: Shawn Zhou (Socal Fencing Center & LA International Fencing)
7th: Noah Wandji (Dynamo Fencing Club)
8th: Derrick Zhai (East Coast Fencing Club)
Day 1 Photos
See the Day 1 gallery of Serge Timacheff photos on Facebook.