USA Fencing

ST. LOUIS, MO. — It was a literal battle of champions.

Sunday’s gold medal bout in Division I Women’s Foil at the 2023 Division I National Championships & April North American Cup in St. Louis pitted Maia Weintraub (Fencers Club Inc. / Fencing Academy of Philadelphia / Princeton University) against Lauren Scruggs (Peter Westbrook Foundation / Fencers Club Inc. / Harvard University).

Weintraub had won the national title in 2019. Scruggs has won it all in 2022.

And they had recently fenced in another high-profile setting: the 2023 NCAA Championships, where Scruggs beat Weintraub in the semifinals before winning the whole thing.

But Weintraub didn’t see this as an NCAAs rematch. It was just another chance for a fun bout against someone she knows very well.

“Honestly, we fence so much — we've been fencing since we were in Y-10,” Weintraub says. “So you kind of lose track over the years, but I always have lots of fun fencing her.”

That fun came with results as Weintraub took home the national title. Weintraub was 16 in 2019 when she last won the title, and she’s 20 now. What’s changed in those four years?

“I think the one four years ago, since it was my very first one, I had no idea that I could even achieve that,” Weintraub says. “So I think coming in here, knowing that it's possible made it a little bit like scarier. But I think, honestly, I was having a lot of fun today, fencing, so I think that's what carried me.”

Speaking of fun, it was clear the women from South Bay Fencing Academy (Janna Freedman, Kira Erikson, Lea Yang and Teodora Kakhiani-Meckling) were having a great time in their journey to bring the club its first national championship. And with a thrilling 45-44 win over SoCalFA, the Women’s Saber national title was officially theirs.

The decisive point at 44-44 was scored by Kakhiani-Meckling, who says the moment felt like a blur.

“I think it's just an experience of me fencing for the last 16 years for the last touch,” she says. “I knew what not to do. And then I was just like, I’m just going to do whatever it takes. And then it happened. I didn’t even know that my light went on — I just closed my eyes.”

Yang, watching with her teammates nearby, had her eyes wide open.

“We were just squeezing each other’s hands tight,” she says. “And then we saw the one light go off, and we jumped and ran to Teo and gave her a big hug.”

In the Men’s Saber team event, the champion wasn’t a club winning its first title. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

USA Fencing (under its current and previous names) has been contesting a Division I Men’s Saber team championship since 1910. With its win on Sunday, the New York Athletic Club has won 46 titles in this span — far more than any other club.

The quartet of Andrew Mackiewicz OLY, Mitchell Saron, Jared Smith and Grant Williams will soon head to Seoul, Korea, for next weekend’s Grand Prix. But first, they wanted to stop in St. Louis to sharpen their skills and win a national championship.

“I think this is a good warmup for the Olympic qualification season,” says Williams, who also won an individual national championship at this tournament. “Just getting our feet wet with the team then getting to compete together — it's just a good, good way to start things off.”

And speaking of the New York Athletic Club, the NYAC trio of James Bourtis, Sidarth Kumbla and Alexander Tsinis won the Men’s Foil team event, bringing the club its first trophy in either a decade (if you count the title won unopposed in 2013) or more than two decades (if you skip 2013 and count the title won in 2002).

It doesn’t end there for the NYAC. In the Women’s Epee team event, the quartet of Anne Cebula, Kat Holmes OLY, Natalia Toby and Christina Watrall emerged with the championship trophy. The New York Athletic Club has now won 13 titles in this event overall — including a stunning 11 of the last 12.

Division I Women’s Foil: AFLA Trophy

Amateur Fencers' League of America (AFLA), founded in New York in 1891, became the national governing body for fencing in the United States, and changed its name in 1981 to United States Fencing Association, now known as USA Fencing.

Division I Women’s Foil

Gold and National Champion: Maia Weintraub (Fencers Club Inc. / Fencing Academy of Philadelphia / Princeton University)

Silver: Lauren Scruggs (Peter Westbrook Foundation / Fencers Club Inc. / Harvard University)

Bronze: Sara Taffel (New Jersey Fencing Alliance)

Bronze: Katerina Lung (Moe Fencing Club LLC)

5th: Arianna Cao (Massialas Foundation (M Team))

6th: Stefani Deschner (Bluegrass Fencers' Club)

7th: Sabrina Cho (University of Pennsylvania / Golden State Fencing Academy)

8th: Emily Jing (Star Fencing Academy)

 

Division I Team Women's Epee

Gold and National Champions: New York Athletic Club (Anne Cebula, Kat Holmes OLY, Natalia Toby, Christina Watrall)

Silver: Academy of Fencing Masters (Audrey Chu, Natalie Brooke A. Gebala, Leehi Machulsky, Sanvi Sharma)

Bronze: Olympia Fencing Center (Ashley Luo, Sierra Springer, Ava S. Wade-Currie)

 

Division I Team Women's Saber

Gold and National Champions: South Bay Fencing Academy (Janna Freedman, Kira Erikson, Lea Yang, Teodora Kakhiani-Meckling)

Silver: SoCalFA (Charmaine Andres, Katherine Andres, Siena Nguyen)

Bronze: Northwestern University (Sky Miller, Megumi Oishi, Kailing Sathyanath)

 

Division I Team Men's Foil

Gold and National Champions: New York Athletic Club (James Bourtis, Sidarth Kumbla, Alexander Tsinis)

Silver: Austin Fencing Club (Arjun Deshmukh, Wesley Doran, Paul Lewis, Aiden Song)

Bronze: Golden State Fencing Academy (Kian Dierks, Ethan Gassner, John Griffin)

 

Division I Team Men’s Saber

Gold and National Champions: New York Athletic Club (Andrew Mackiewicz OLY, Mitchell Saron, Jared Smith, Grant Williams)

Silver: Boston Fencing Club (Jason Bae, Jaden Callahan, Samir Travers)

Bronze: SocalFA 1 (Gian Dhingra, Justin Tann, Jaesun Yun)

 

Junior Men's Epee

Gold: Samuel Imrek (Alliance Fencing Academy)

Silver: Alexander Moses (TeamK Fencing)

Bronze: Christopher Chong (Penta Olympic Fencing Club)

Bronze: Ayan Bhatnagar (Elite Fencers Club)

5th: James Sennewald (Alliance Fencing Academy)

6th: Daniil Mazur (Penta Olympic Fencing Club)

7th: Daniel Lee (Elite Fencing Academy (VA) / Elite Fencing Academy (GA))

8th: Leon Fu (Team Touche Fencing Center)

 

Vet Combined Women's Saber

Gold: Leigh Altman (Atlantic Fencing Academy)

Silver: Clare Deming (Lilov Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jamie Willemse (PDX Fencing)

Bronze: Elisabet Chiarelli (Manhattan Fencing Center)

5th: Jasmina Denner (Scarsdale Fencing Center)

6th: Frauke Berman (Manhattan Fencing Center)

7th: Dawn Wilson (Louisville Fencing Center Inc.)

8th: Beth Debertin (Center for Blade Arts)

 

Vet Combined Men's Epee

Gold: Cedric Loiseau (Escrime Du Lac)

Silver: Adam Maczik (Marx Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Mehmet Tepedelenlioglu (East Bay Fencers Gym)

Bronze: John Teitenberg (Nashville Academy of Fencing)

5th: Keith Lichten (East Bay Fencers Gym)

6th: Alan Arrowsmith II (Nashville Academy of Fencing)

7th: Jeffrey Hudson (Hudson Centers For The Martial Arts)

8th: Darcy Gates (Canada)

 

Vet 40 Women's Epee

Gold: Haejung Hofman (Academy Of Fencing Masters (AFM))

Silver: Kristin Foellmer (DC Fencers Club)

Bronze: Camilla Sise (Pioneer Valley Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Valerie Hutchinson (Denver Fencing Center)

5th: Kira Hansen (Northern California)

6th: Nicole Polanichka (Lancaster Fencing Academy / Williamsport Fencing Club)

7th: Kundry Haberkern (Salle Auriol Seattle)

8th: Brighid Moret (DC Fencers Club)

 

Vet 50 Women's Epee

Gold: Sharrie Zafft (Marx Fencing Academy)

Silver: Michelle Schultz (Hooked On Fencing)

Bronze: Ann Totemeier (Northern Colorado Fencers / Denver Fencing Center)

Bronze: Yuliya Ganser (Medeo Fencing Club)

5th: Dawn Lorentson (Shoreline Fencers Club / Riverside Fencing Club)

6th: Lisa Wolf (Riverside Fencing Club)

7th: Jeannine Prokop (Nova Fencing Club)

8th: Karen Byron (Arena Fencing Academy LLC / Masters Fencing Academy NJ)

 

Vet 60 Women's Epee

Gold: Georgina Love (Central Florida)

Silver: Valerie Asher (DC Fencers Club)

Bronze: Carole Jeandheur (DC Fencers Club)

Bronze: MJ Jensen (Olympia Fencing Center)

5th: Cynthia Glover (Rain City Fencing Center)

6th: Teresa Orcutt (South Texas)

7th: Lorraine Hoyne (Canada)

8th: Caroline Rich (High Desert Fencing Alliance)

 

Vet 70 Women's Epee

Gold: Bonnie Aher (Salle Auriol Seattle)

Silver: Anna Telles (Salle Auriol Seattle)

Bronze: Elizabeth Kocab (Plymouth/Ann Arbor Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Charlotta Bowie (Modern Duelists Fencing Academy)

5th: Cynthia Runyon (High Desert Fencing Alliance)

6th: Deborah Theriault (Pittsburgh Fencers Club)

7th: Agota Balot (Atlantic Fencing Academy)

8th: Debra Swain (Colorado)

 

Vet 80 Women's Epee

Gold: Bettie Graham (Chevy Chase Fencing Club)

Silver: Patricia Bedrosian (Salle Couturier)

 

Vet 40 Men’s Saber

Gold: Mahmoud Elbakry (Elite Fencing Academy (GA))

Silver: James Zirkle (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)

Bronze: Joshua Bush (Lincoln Fencing Club)

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

5th: Jonathan Seidel (Manchen Academy of Fencing)

6th: Jeffrey Kallio (Forge Fencing Teams)

7th: Aaron Waxler (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

8th: Stephen Pashby (Forge Fencing Teams)

 

Vet 50 Men’s Saber

Gold: Ronald Thornton (Capital Fencing Academy)

Silver: William Becker (Gateway Florida)

Bronze: Naoum Issa (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)

Bronze: Michael Bacon (Manhattan Fencing Center)

5th: Kim Phillips (PDX Fencing)

6th: Ilho Choi (Boston Fencing Club)

7th: Sergey Makogon (Salt City Swords Fencing Club)

8th: Stephen Dashnaw (Lilov Fencing Academy)

 

Vet 60 Men’s Saber

Gold: Mark Lundborg (Washington Fencing Academy)

Silver: Chris Matt (Capital Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Steven Heck (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation / Rockville Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jacaeber Kastor (Manhattan Fencing Center)

5th: Dmitri Kopylov (Lilov Fencing Academy)

6th: Todd Bukowski (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation)

7th: Paul Hicha (Arizona State University Fencing Club)

8th: James Barbour (Village Fencing Club / Oregon Fencing Alliance)

 

Vet 70 Men’s Saber

Gold: Wang Yung (Infinity Fencing Alliance / Hillside Cavaliers Fencing Club)

Silver: Garik Gutman (Rockville Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Joseph Streb (Columbus International Fencing Academy / Royal Arts Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Alfred Lara (Oregon Fencing Alliance)

5th: David Seuss (Fencing Academy Of Boston)

6th: Philip Kath (South Carolina)

7th: John Di Gennaro (Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Philip Reilly (Oregon Fencing Alliance)

 

Vet 80 Men’s Saber

Gold: Costa Nichols (Las Vegas Fencing Academy)

Silver: Vic Bianchini (Spartak)

Bronze: Dick Dunlop (Illinois Fencers Club)

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