USA Fencing

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The luck of the Irish? With a third straight NCAA fencing championship on its way back to Notre Dame, one thing is clear: Luck has played no part in Notre Dame’s historic run of success in collegiate fencing.

The University of Notre Dame won the 2023 NCAA Fencing Championship on Sunday in Durham, N.C., securing a school-record 13th NCAA title and becoming the first Notre Dame athletics team to win three titles in a row.

In doing so, Notre Dame also became the first university to win three or more fencing team championships in a row since Penn State won six in a row from 1995 to 2000.

This championship marks the fifth title for Gia Kvaratskhelia as head coach of Notre Dame, which had eight top-eight individual finishes to help build its lead toward a team title.

Individual championships were on the line, too, and in a sign of how wide and deep the talent pool is in collegiate fencing, these titles were won by fencers from four different schools: Harvard (2), Notre Dame (2), Columbia/Barnard and St. John’s.

Scoring in the team event at the NCAA championships works like this: 24 fencers per weapon face off in a massive round-robin where everyone fences everyone in a series of 5-touch bouts. That’s 23 bouts per person spread over two grueling days.

Each victory in these 5-touch bouts earns a point for your school in the overall standings. Since each school can have a maximum of two fencers per gender and weapon, the most points a school can receive for one weapon is 46 (23 victories in 23 bouts, times two).

(The semifinals and finals bouts to determine individual NCAA champions do not count toward team point standings.)

Notre Dame earned 188 points, beating second-place Princeton (175) and third-place Columbia/Barnard (156). Their success was spread across all six weapons, but their strongest was Men’s Foil, where Notre Dame earned 39 points from the duo of Marcello Olivares and Chase Emmer. That score of 39 means the pair combined to win a remarkable 39 of their 46 bouts — the best winning percentage of any pair of teammates at the tournament. 

USA Fencing CEO Phil Andrews was inside Cameron Indoor Stadium to cheer on all the student-athletes. He says the moment that Notre Dame secured its championship was one he’ll never forget. 

“Any fencing fan — or, really, any fan of sport — should add the NCAA Fencing Championships to their sports bucket list,” Andrews says. “This was my first time attending the tournament and won’t be the last. The energy within the stadium was electric, with teammates cheering and chanting after every touch. It’s an atmosphere you simply won’t find outside of collegiate fencing.”

Here were the individual winners:

The Women's Epee final showcased an intense battle between Eszter Muhari of Notre Dame and Jessica Lin from Princeton. Muhari emerged victorious, defeating Lin by a score of 15-10, clinching the gold medal and NCAA title for Notre Dame.

The bronze medals were awarded to Emily Vermeule of Harvard and Hadley Husisian of Princeton. Rounding out the top eight were Kaylin Hsieh of Notre Dame, Faith Park of Harvard, Tierna Oxenreider of Columbia/Barnard, and Laura Fekete of Long Island University.

The Women's Foil final featured a captivating duel between Lauren Scruggs of Harvard and May Tieu from Princeton. Scruggs showcased her exceptional skills, defeating Tieu by a score of 15-7 and securing the gold medal and NCAA title for Harvard.

Bronze medals were awarded to Amita Berthier of Notre Dame and Maia Weintraub from Princeton. Completing the top eight were Zander Rhodes of Columbia/Barnard, Sabrina Cho of Pennsylvania, Dariia Myroniuk of Ohio State, and Delphine DeVore of Columbia/Barnard.

The Women's Saber final saw an intense match between Nora Burke of Columbia/Barnard and Elizabeth Tartakovsky from Harvard. Burke emerged victorious, defeating Tartakovsky by a score of 15-13, claiming the gold medal and NCAA title for Columbia/Barnard.

Bronze medals were awarded to Maggie Shealy of Brandeis and Chloe Fox-Gitomer from Princeton. The top eight also included Kara Linder of Notre Dame, Vivian Lu of Pennsylvania, Julieta Toledo of Ohio State, and Ryan Jenkins of Princeton.

The Men's Epee final pitted Jonas Hansen of Harvard against Paul Veltrup from Ohio State. Hansen ultimately bested Veltrup by a score of 15-10, securing the gold medal and NCAA title for Harvard.

The bronze medals were awarded to Mohamed Elsayed Saleh of Long Island University and Teddy Lombardo from Columbia. The rest of the top eight included Paul Fortin of St. John's, Theodore Vinnitchouk of Yale, Isaac Herbst of Pennsylvania, and Maruan Osman-Touson of Notre Dame.

The Men's Foil final matched Jan Jurkiewicz of St. John's against Mohamed Hamza from Princeton. Jurkiewicz defeated Hamza by a score of 15-13, clinching the gold medal and NCAA championship for St. John's.

Bronze medals were awarded to Marcello Olivares and Chase Emmer, both representing Notre Dame. The top eight competitors also included Ashton Daniel of Columbia, Davide Lorenzoni of Pennsylvania, Brandon Lee of Princeton, and Arwen Borowiak of Penn State. 

The Men's Saber event was an intense battle between Luke Linder of Notre Dame and Fares Ferjani of St. John's. In a nail-biting finish, Linder triumphed over Ferjani by a score of 15-14, securing the gold medal and national championship for Notre Dame.

Jack Price of Ohio State and Jack Pan of Yale each received bronze medals. Ronald Anglade of Princeton, Simon Kushkov of Pennsylvania, Colby Harley of Columbia, and Matthew Limb of Princeton rounded out the top eight.