The Northwestern Men’s Club Fencing Team won the 2011 United States Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs (USACFC) National Championships. The competition was held at the University of Chicago. The NU Men’s team captured its 4th title (2003, 2005, 2010, and 2011), the most of any school, and the first back-to-back title ever in the nation.
In the individual rounds, Maciek Zmyslowski (Fr.) captured gold while teammate Philip Szalwinski (Sr.) captured silver in the Men’s Epee individuals. The NU Men’s foil team matched the 1, 2 finish as Alexander Risman (So.) took gold while teammate Jonathan Kim (So.) captured silver in the Men’s Foil individuals.
The strong individual finishes carried over to the direct elimination team tournament. The Men’s Sabre team was seeded 7th at the beginning of the day. Upset by UCLA 5-4, NU rallied to defeat Swarthmore College 5-4, and the University of Iowa, from a 4-2 deficit, 5-4 to eventually finish in 9th place.
The Men’s Epee team, seeded 2nd, advanced with ease into the top 8. Down 0-3, NU answered back with 5 straight wins to defeat the University of Texas – Austin 5-3. At the semifinals, NU was defeated by Arizona State University, the eventual champions, 5-1. In the 3rd place match, NU was defeated by William and Mary College 5-1, placing NU Men’s Epee in 4th place.
The Men’s Foil team anchored the NU overall title run. Seeded 6th, NU advanced into top 8 by downing Swarthmore College 5-1. They advanced to the semi-finals where and advanced to the semifinals facing Cornell University for the second straight year. Repeating last year’s performance, NU defeated Cornell 5-1 and setup a Midwest showdown with the University of Michigan in the Men’s Foil gold medal match. The NU Men’s Foil team lost the first bout but rallied to win 5 straight and captured gold for the second straight year.
The NU combined men’s scores beat out Rutgers University (3rd) and the University of Michigan (2nd) and achieved back-to-back USACFC National Champions.
The following NU members participated:
Foil: Jonathan Kim (Sr.), Alexander Risman (So.), Alexander Dranove (Sr.), and Stanley Weng (So.)
Epee: Daniel Reed (Sr.), Philip Szalwinski (Sr.), Maciek Zmyslowski (Fr.), and Charles Geter (So.)
Sabre: Mychal Kubiak (Sr.), John Kinol (Fr.), Lokamitra Veeramasuneni (Fr.), and Edward Paget (Jr.)