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
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
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.
