2017 USA Collegiate Fencing Club (USACFC) Championships Recap

Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) played host to this year’s USA Collegiate Fencing Club (USACFC) Championships over the April 8th and 9th weekend. This year’s event featured 37 collegiate club teams with approximately 500 athletes in total participating. The event is the largest yearly collegiate fencing event in the country and is only open to collegiate club (non-NCAA) teams. For the programs participating, USACFC Championships is the culmination of the competitive fencing year. It is used as a logical extension and championship event for the regional collegiate fencing conferences in a manner that is similar to the NCAA conferences and championship event. The USACFC Championship, however, puts a much stronger focus on the team/squad aspect, with schools competing primarily as squads, with a smaller individual event afterwards. Teams are seeded into the event based primarily on their regional results. Participating conferences include: The New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC), The Southern Intercollegiate Fencing Association (SIFA), The Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA), The Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC), The Baltimore-Washington Collegiate Fencing Conference (BWCFC), The Southern Atlantic Conference (SAC), and The Intercollegiate Fencing Conference of Southern California (IFCSC). Below is a medal summary for the event for team, squad and individual:

Team Results

6 Weapon Team: Gold: University of Michigan Silver: Dartmouth College Bronze: University of California, Santa Barbara Women’s 3-Weapon Team: Gold: Dartmouth College Silver: University of Michigan Bronze: University of Florida Men’s 3-Weapon Team: Gold: Clemson University Silver: University of California, Santa Barbara Bronze: Northwestern University

Squad Results:

Men’s Epee: Gold: Cornell University Silver: Tufts University Bronze: University of California, Santa Barbara Men’s Foil: Gold: University of Chicago Silver: Clemson University Bronze: Dartmouth College Men’s Saber: Gold: University of Michigan Silver: University of Florida Bronze: University of California, Santa Barbara Women’s Epee: Gold: University of Texas at Austin Silver: Michigan State University Bronze: Dartmouth College Women’s Foil: Gold: Dartmouth College Silver: University of Michigan Bronze Smith College Women’s Saber: Gold: University of California, Santa Barbara Silver: Michigan State University Bronze: Dartmouth College Full Team Results

Individual Results:

Men’s Foil: Gold: Michael Mauer - Cornell University Silver: Seth Daily - William and Mary Bronze: Roshan Talagala - University of Maryland Men’s Epee: Gold: Matthew Wexler - University of Pittsburgh Silver: Ethan Madison - University of Michigan Bronze: Kendrick Wang - Oberlin College Men’s Saber: Gold: Sean Li - University of Texas at Austin Silver: Nitikorn Dornjandaeng - University of Michigan Bronze: Bailey Michell - University of Massachusetts Women’s Foil: Gold: Claudia Sun - United States Military Academy Silver: Alinah Purdy-Sachs - University of Michigan Bronze: Rebekah Kahn - Smith College Women’s Epee: Gold: Katie Vella - Boston University Silver: Sucheta Tamragouri - Boston University Bronze: Grace Neveu - University of Texas at Austin Women’s Saber: Gold: Kaleigh Mentzer - Dartmouth College Silver: Elysia Wang - Smith College Bronze: Sarah Innes-Gold - University of California, Santa Barbara Full Individual Results

About the USACFC

The annual USACFC Championship event event began in 2003 as an open event with only 15 teams. Over the years, it has grown to see more than 50 teams pass through the organization, and the yearly event has grown to require a size restriction due to venue limitations - only 39 schools maximum can collectively compete in any single weapon/gender combination. The location for next year’s event has yet to be officially named, but early speculation and historical preference indicates the southeast as the most likely target region. The USACFC Championships has a strong preference for rotating the host region on a 4 year period in order to increase accessibility for newer teams. The 2014 event was held in Tennessee, so its quite likely the 2018 event will see a return to the southeast. This article will be updated once a confirmed venue is announced. For more information on the organization member clubs and how to join, check out the official USACFC information page.