Fencing: Tigers place 4th at championships

For the past 19 years, the Princeton fencers have finished in the top 10 at the national championships and had their highest finishes of fourth place in 1994, 1996 and 1999. Last season, the team finished in sixth place but was only four points away from fourth. A top-four finish was the Tigers’ goal for this year’s NCAA Championships, and they succeeded.

Overall, the Tigers finished with a score of 150, behind St. John’s with 155 and only two points ahead of fifth-place Ohio State. Notre Dame’s 174 points powered it to the top spot.

The Tigers had three fencers finish in second place in their events, and seven earned All-America titles.

“This team is very committed to supporting each other in training and competition. We left our blood, sweat and tears on the strip all year long and it paid off for us this weekend. We look forward to coming back next year to make us even better,” Yergler said.

Princeton’s success at the regional tournament on March 12 earned the program 12 bids to the championships, which is the maximum number allowed for one university. Up to two people of each gender for each of the three weapons are sent from each school. Competing for the men were senior Mike Elfassy and sophomore Jonathan Yergler for epee; sophomore Robert Malcolm and junior Alex Mills for saber; and freshman Philip Dershwitz and senior John Stogin for saber. The women sent sophomores Phoebe Caldwell and Hannah Safford for epee; freshmen Eve Levin and Hyun-Kyung Yuh for foil; and sophomore Eliza Stone and freshman Diamond Wheeler for saber.

Princeton was one of only three teams out of the 30 competing to send the maximum number of fencers.

Scoring for the championships is based on the number of bouts the members of the team win throughout the weekend, so Princeton was at an advantage by having all 12 allowed fencers. First, the fencers compete in a round robin with everyone in their event, and then the top four fence to determine the champion.

Safford noted that the team’s resilience would help them in the NCAA Championships. The format of scoring in the championships is such that every bout matters, whereas in regular dual meets, a team must only win the majority of the bouts, so later match-ups may not be as important.

In men’s epee, Yergler took the second place spot and contributed 16 wins for the team. Elfassy won nine of his bouts to place 19th. Mills earned All-America status in foil with 13 wins for eighth place, and Malcolm added seven wins for the Tigers. Dershwitz also had seven victories in saber to take 18th place, while Stogin’s 11 wins landed him at 13th.

For the women, Stone and Levin both took second place in their events. Stone won 20 of her 23 saber bouts, and Levin won 16 in foil. In addition, Yuh made All-America with her sixth-place finish and 15 victories, and Wheeler’s 12 saber wins put her in 10th place, also good for All-America. In epee, Safford finished in 12th place for All-America honors with 12 wins. Caldwell also contributed 12 wins for 14th place.

“There were a lot of brilliant individual performances and we can’t help but be excited about the future,” Yergler said.