March 26, 2016
WALTHAM, Mass. -- The men concluded their first day of competition today at the NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championships. Two Nittany Lions will advance to the semifinal round of the tournament, beginning tomorrow morning. Currently, Penn State is in sixth place in the team event.
Defending NCAA Men's Sabre Champion Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.) is tied for first place going into tomorrow's semifinal round. The sophomore is in a dead heat with St. John's senior Ferenc Valkai, both ending the day 12-3 with 69 touches and plus-27 indicator. Senior captain Kaito Streets (Redwood City, Calif.) met teammate Mackiewicz in competition. The two battled it out, but ultimately Streets, the 2014 Men's Sabre Champion, came out on top.
On foil, senior Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.) finished the first day of competition in third place with an 11-4. Bravo will head into tomorrow's semifinal match with 68 touches and a plus-21 indicator. Junior Howie Chan (Walnut, Calif.) also competed in the event, finishing in 11th on the day.
Juniors Conor Shepard (Colleyville, Texas) and Patrick August (Las Vegas, Nev.) competed in the epee event, finishing in 14th and 23rd, respectively.
Action resumes tomorrow at 9 a.m. with the final two rounds of round-robin action. The semifinals and finals will begin at 1:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN3. The NCAA will also produce a one-hour special on the event that will be broadcast on ESPNU on April 6 at 2:30 p.m.
Live results can be accessed here: http://www.escrimeresults.com/NCAA/NCAA2016.html.
Check back on GoPSUsports.com for results of this weekend's collegiate fencing action. Penn State fans are encouraged to follow Penn State fencing via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pennstateFEN, on Penn State Fencing's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pennstatefencing and on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/pennstateFEN.