Penn State’s Nicholas Chinman came from behind to defeat Olympian Gerek Meinhardt (Notre Dame) 15-14 to claim the 2009 NCAA Men’s Foil title. Chinman ended the preliminary competitions in 4th place.
The victory put Penn State well ahead on the day for the overall team competition. At the end of the men’s matches Penn State led the field with 98 victories with Ohio State in second with 93 and Notre Dame in 3rd at 84 victories.
Meinhardt, a freshman at Notre Dame, was the youngest member of the US Olympic Team that competed in Beijing. He won 19 of 23 bouts in preliminary competition and finished second on points to Penn State’s Miles Chamley-Watson. Meinhardt drew Columbia’s Kurt Getz in the final four and defeated him 15-9 before heading into the gold medal bout.
Chinman ended up 4th after the preliminary rounds, qualifying to the final four where he defeated his teammate Chamley-Watson in a 15-14 match.
Meinhardt stormed out to a 3-0 lead against Chinman. Chinman closed within one point at 7-6 led most of the bout. The first period ended with Chinman down 7-11. Chinman went on a 5-1 run to start the second period and tied the match at 12-all and then took his first lead of the bout 13-12. Meinhardt responded with a long attack to tie the match at 13. On Meinhardt’s next attack Chinman stepped in to counter and scored 14-13. Gerek’s next attack would fall short as well, but he was able to throw out a counterattack that caught Chinman and even the bout again at 14-14.
On the last action, both fencers came together but only one touch registered, giving Chinman the 15-14 victory and NCAA title. On the action, it appeared that Meinhardt’s action also landed – his foil blade was noticably bent after the action – but the touch did not register.
Watch the videos below and provide your own comments.
Video:
First Period:
Second Period:
Other Links:
College Fencing 360’s Coverage:
http://www.collegefencing360.com/cf360_blog/chinman_zingerman_and_ochoc.html
Live NCAA Results: http://www.prisedefer.com/NCAA.htm
