USA Fencing

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Columbia sophomore Adam Mathieu (Union City, N.J.) won his first Division I North American Cup title on Friday at the January North American Cup in Virginia Beach.

The foil fencer earned a bye into the table of 128 where he won the first of five straight bouts where he held his opponents to single-digit scores.

After a 15-2 win over Keric Moore (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Mathieu won his next two bouts against Mohamed Hassan (Saint Louis, Mo.) and Nick Kubik (South Bend, Ind.) by 15-6 and 15-4 scores, respectively.

In the table of 16, Mathieu defeated three-time Senior World Team member Kurt Getz (New York City, N.Y.), 15-5, and advanced to the medal rounds after a 15-7 win against Darren Mei (Foster City, Calif.)

Michele Caporizzi (ITA), a sophomore at St. John’s, gave Mathieu his greatest challenge of the day in the semifinals, but Mathieu finished the bout, 15-11.

He went on to face George Haglund (Califon, N.J.), the second-ranked cadet fencer in the nation, in the gold medal final. Mathieu dominated the bout and earned the win, 15-6.

Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.), a 2013 Junior World Team member and Harvard sophomore, won her first junior NAC title in the women’s epee competition.

After a 6-0 finish in the pools, Van Loon was seeded sixth in the direct elimination tables and won her first bout over Elizabeth Kirk (Bentonville, Ark.), 15-6.

Van Loon defeated Sofya Tkachman (Sugar Land, Texas), 15-12, in the table of 32 and Sharon Ra (New City, N.Y.), 15-5, to advance to the quarter-finals.

Van Loon won her next two bouts over a pair of Los Angeles International Fencing Center teammates Jennifer Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif.), 15-13, and Audrey Yun (Los Angeles, Calif.), 15-10.

In the gold medal final, Van Loon defeated 2013 Junior Pan Am Team member Azaline Dunlap-Smith (Nottingham, N.H.), 15-9.

The No. 2-ranked junior men’s saber fencer in the world, Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.) won his third gold medal on U.S. soil in less than a year on Friday.

Dershwitz, who won bronze at the Junior Worlds and fenced as the youngest member of the Senior World Team last year, went undefeated in the pools and earned a bye into the table of 64.

After 15-7 wins over both Jose Recinto (PHI) and Matthew Lewicki (Oakland, N.J.), Dershwitz defeated Mikolaj Bak (Linden, N.J.), 15-8, in the table of 16.

Dershwitz won his quarter-final bout over top-ranked cadet Benjamin Natanzon (Manalapan, N.J.), 15-12, to set up a semifinal against 2012 Cadet World medalist Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.) -- his teammate at both Zeta Fencing and on the 2013 Junior World Team.

In a repeat of his win over Mackiewicz in the gold medal final of the Sosnowiec Junior World Cup in November, Dershwitz defeated his teammate, 15-11.

Dershwitz’s next opponent would be a familiar one as well when he advanced to the gold medal final against Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif.), a Columbia sophomore and Dershwitz’s teammate at the 2013 Junior Worlds.

Dershwitz won the bout, 15-9, to win his second junior NAC title of the new season after taking gold at the July NAC.

Wheelchair fencer Catherine Thomas (Atlanta, Ga.) has won four straight silver medals at the NACs after transitioning from the veteran to Paralympic events. On Friday, Thomas broke through to win her first gold medal in the wheelchair women’s epee event.

Seeded second after the pools, Thomas earned a bye into the semifinals where she defeated 2013 Wheelchair World Team member Ellen Geddes (Johnston, S.C.), 15-10.

In the gold medal final, Thomas won her bout, 15-9, against 14-year-old Lauryn Deluca (Parma, Ohio) who made her NAC debut as a wheelchair fencer this weekend, but competed as a Y14 and Division II fencer last season.

Former World Champion Tareq Alqallaf (KUW) won the wheelchair men’s epee competition. After a 15-4 win over 2013 Wheelchair World Team member Curt Oswalt (Von Ormy, Texas) in the semis, Alqallaf won his gold medal final against Penn sophomore David Xu (Staten Island, N.Y.), 14-5.

Competition continues on Saturday with the schedule as follows (all times are approximate start times):

8:30 a.m.
Division I Men’s Epee
Division I Women’s Saber

9:30 a.m.
Wheelchair Men’s Foil

1:30 p.m.
Wheelchair Women’s Foil

2 p.m.
Senior Men’s Team Saber
Junior Women’s Foil

Click here to view complete results.

Top eight results are as follows:

Division I Men’s Foil
1. Adam Mathieu (Union City, N.J.)
2. George Haglund (Califon, N.J.)
3. Michele Caporizzi (ITA)
3. Adam Pantel (Mendham, N.J.)
5. Ariel De Smet (Troutdale, Ore.)
6. Darren Mei (Foster City, Calif.)
7. James Sands (New York City, N.Y.)
8. Jong Woo Kang (KOR)

Junior Women’s Epee
1. Nina Van Loon (Boulder, Colo.)
2. Azaline Dunlap-Smith (Nottingham, N.H.)
3. Jessie Radanovich (Tollhouse, Calif.)
3. Audrey Yun (Los Angeles, Calif.)
5. Mason Speta (Chicago, Ill.)
6. Charlene Liu (Bridgewater, N.J.)
7. Anna Van Brummen (Houston, Texas)
8. Jennifer Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Junior Men’s Saber
1. Eli Dershwitz (Sherborn, Mass.)
2. Geoffrey Loss (Laguna Beach, Calif.)
3. Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.)
3. Jonathan Fitzgerald (East Brunswick, N.J.)
5. Christofer Ahn (Houston, Texas)
5. Bartosz Pukal (Natick, Mass.)
7. Jonah Shainberg (Rye, N.J.)
8. Benjamin Natanzon (Manalapan, N.J.)

Wheelchair Men’s Epee
1. Tareq Alqallaf (KUW)
2. David Xu (Staten Island, N.Y.)
3. Joey Brinson (Florence, Miss.)
3. Curt Oswalt (Von Ormy, Texas)
5. Leo Curtis (Rainier, Ore.)
6. Curtis Lovejoy (College Park, Ga.)
7. Josh Russell (Mendenhall, Miss.)
8. John Berret Jr. (Madison, Miss.)

Wheelchair Women’s Epee
1. Catherine Thomas (Sacramento, Calif.)
2. Lauryn Deluca (Parma, Ohio)
3. Ellen Geddes (Johnston, S.C.)
3. Patricia Dykes (San Antonio, Texas)
5. Ellery Gilbert (Douglasville, Ga.)
6. Mia Ives-Rublee (Durham, N.C.)