Columbia University
NCAA Championships
Fencing Sets Sights on NCAA Championship
3/22/2023 2:00:00 PM | Fencing
The Lions will look for their 17th national championship in North Carolina
DURHAM, N.C. - Columbia fencing is set to begin the 2023 NCAA Championships Thursday, when the men begin the four-day event at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University. The Lions will send the maximum number of 12 competitors and are one of just three schools in their quest for a team national championship.
The men's round-robin bouts on Thursday, followed by the semifinals and finals on Friday. The women will follow the same schedule on Saturday and Sunday. A live feed of the preliminary rounds can be seen on GoDuke.com. The semifinal and final bouts will be available on Friday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Columbia will look to build off a successful 2023 campaign that saw both squads finish second at the Ivy League Round Robins and earn seven medals at the NCAA Northeast Regional two weeks ago. The women's team, who went 37-3 and set a program record for most wins in a season, finished the regular season ranked No. 1 by the USFCA. The men checked in at No. 3 in the final polls after a 25-6 dual-match season.
Last season, the Lions placed third and saw seven individuals earn All-America status. Senior Ashton Daniel will look to repeat as men's foil individual champion, and Columbia returns five All-Americans and a total of seven competitors from the 2022 NCAA Championship squad.
In men's epee, Teddy Lombardo was the 2019 silver medalist and took fifth place at NCAAs last season. Christopher Walker is a two-time All-American who finished as high 11th in 2022. Columbia's two most recent individual Ivy League and NCAA Regional Champions, Nora Burke and Zander Rhodes, are also back and will look to build on their strong finishes in South Bend.
Burke took bronze to pick up first-team All-America accolades in women's sabre, while Rhodes capped a brilliant rookie campaign with a fifth-place finish in foil. Junior Vera Kong placed 12th at her first NCAA Championship in sabre and Ariana Mangano (women's epee) rounds out the Lions' experienced group after an NCAA appearance in 2022.
Making their NCAA debuts will be Colby Harley (men's sabre), Skyler Liverant (men's epee), Joon Paik (men's foil), Tierna Oxenreider (women's epee) and Delphine DeVore (women's foil).
The championship includes individual events in each of six weapons (men's epee, men's foil, men's saber, women's epee, women's foil and women's saber) and one combined team champion.
Fencers will compete in a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. After the round robins, the top-four finishers in each weapon will fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with winners fencing to determine first and second places and non-advancing fencers being awarded a tie for third place.
An institution's place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes during the round-robin competition.
For the latest on Columbia's fencing programs, follow @CULionsFencing on Twitter and Instagram and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.
Players Mentioned
