Chase Emmer Wins Men's Foil National Title

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Chase Emmer won his first NCAA individual national title on Friday, winning in men’s foil, delivering the Irish an individual national title in eight straight NCAA Championships, dating back to the 2017 season.

The second and final day for the men’s competition was a success for the Irish as they extended their lead in the overall team competition. Notre Dame’s 87 points pushes the Irish lead to 10, as Columbia/Barnard (77) is second and St. John’s (76). The Irish sent a total of four fencers to the knockout semifinal rounds.

​​The Notre Dame fencing program now has 46 individual NCAA titles, with the men accounting for 22 of them. The Fighting Irish men have won 10 NCAA individual foil titles in program history.

Emmer went 17-6 in the round-robin portion of competition, earning the No. 2 seed in the semifinal knockout rounds. Ziyuan Chen also had a standout day, matching Emmer’s record with a mark of 17-6 to claim the No. 3 seed, forcing a matchup between the teammates. 

Emmer outlasted Chen in the semis, winning 15-11 to advance to the final against Harvard’s Andrew Chen. Emmer took down the No. 1 seed in the title bout, defeating the Crimson fencer by a score of 15-10 to secure the individual national title.

What a moment ☘️ pic.twitter.com/JK9xUVGBv7

— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) March 21, 2025

The Irish sabre duo of Ahmed Hesham and Radu Nitu also had standout days, both earning spots in the semifinal knockout stages. Hesham earned the top overall seed after going 18-4 during the round-robin prelims and Nitu took the No. 3 seed with a record of 16-6.

Nitu dispatched of St. John’s Vlad Covaliu in the two-three matchup by a score of 15-9 to advance to the gold medal match. Hesham settled for a tie for third after getting knocked off by St. John’s Darii Lukashenko in a 15-11 decision. Lukashenko was too much for Nitu in the final, winning by a score of 15-7, earning Nitu the silver.

In men’s epee Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle and Maruan Osman Touson wrapped up their championship weekend, placing 11th and 20th respectively. Hamilton amassed 11 wins and Osman Touson notched eight over the two days of competition.

STANDINGS

Foil
1. Chase Emmer, 17-6 (+38)
T-3. Ziyuan Chen, 17-6 (+29)

Sabre
2. Radu Nitu, 16-6 (+34)
T-3. Ahmed Hesham, 18-4 (+49)

Epee
11. Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, 11-11 (+1)
20. Maruan Osman Touson, 8-14 (-10)

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Notre Dame (87)
2. Columbia/Barnard (77)
3. St. John’s (76)
4. Princeton (62)
5. Harvard (58)

UP NEXT

The women will take to the strip for their turn to fence for the national championship. They will fence the first three rounds of round-robin competition on Saturday and then move to Sunday for the final two rounds of round-robin competition. After the two rounds are completed on Sunday, the top-four finishers will advance to the semifinals starting at 1:30 p.m. ET in the afternoon.