UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The University of Notre Dame men’s fencing team added to the trophy case on Friday as they picked up two individual championships while finishing runner-up in all three weapons Friday from the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Irish had five of the six fencers make the finals to ensure the Irish would walk away with at least two titles by the end of the day. Marcello Olivares and Luke Linder secured their first individual championships after defeating their fellow teammates in the finals. Olivares got the best of Andrew Machovec to earn the men’s foil championship while Linder took down Jared Smith to earn the sabre championship.
Stephen Ewart made the epee semifinals as the four seed and upset the No. 1 seed to make it to the finals. He ended up falling to Ryan Griffiths and came away with a runner-up finish.
The Irish finished the day on top of the team standings with a total of 105 points. They held a nine point lead on second place Penn State. The next closest team is Boston College with 73 points in third.
Men’s Foil
Olivares and Machovec continued their strong play in wrapping up the round robin portion of the morning. Olivares finished as the No. 1 overall seed while Machovec slotted in third.
Both fencers easily took care of their competition in the semifinals. Olivares defeated Cesar Colon of St. John’s 15-9 while Machovec defeated Finn Hossfeld of Duke 15-10 to set up the all-Irish final.
It was all Olivares in the final, easily dispatching Machovec by a score of 15-3 to clinch the title. It is the third straight championship the Irish have clinched the men’s foil champion as Nick Itkin won in 2018 and 2019.
Men’s Sabre
Linder and Smith went a perfect 16-0 in the final two rounds of round robin to finish with the No. 1 seed for Linder and No. 2 seed for Smith. The pair both won their semifinal bouts by a score of 15-6 as Linder defeated Dalton Walker of St. John’s and Smith defeated Clement Perrier of Penn State. With the wins, it set up the second all-Irish final of the day.
The freshman got the best of the junior in the finals as Linder defeated Smith by a final score of 15-7 to clinch the title. It is the first men’s sabre championship for the Irish since Gabor Szelle back in 2000. Linder is the first freshman to win a national championship since Itkin won in 2018.
Men’s Epee
The final two rounds of round robin play brought some intrigue for men’s epee as a number of fencers were all within a couple of points of each other. Ewart ended up besting Ariel Simmons for the fourth and final spot in the epee semifinals.
Ewart pulled the upset against the No. 1 seed Jonathan Piskovatskov of Penn State by a score of 15-12 in the semifinals to make his first career epee final. Ewart battled Giffiths of Penn State in the final but ultimately fell by a score of 15-10. Ewart was one of three Irish to claim runner-up finishes on the day.
Standings
National Collegiate Fencing Championships
March 25-28, 2021
Bryce Jordan Center | Penn State
University Park, Pa.
Men’s Competition (March 25-26)
Epee
2. Stephen Ewart, 15-8 (+19)*
5. Ariel Simmons, 14-7 (+21)**
Foil
1. Marcello Olivares 19-3 (+55)*
2. Andrew Machovec 18-4 (+54)*
Sabre
1. Luke Linder 21-2 (+62)*
2. Jared Smith 18-5 (+43)*
* First Team All-American
** Second Team All-American
Team Standings
1. Notre Dame 105
2. Penn State 96
3. Boston College 73
4. NJIT 72
5. Duke 69
Up Next
The women take to the strip to continue the 2021 NCAA Championships Saturday morning. Round robin play will begin with the first three rounds throughout the day in epee, foil and sabre. Epee gets rolling at 9 a.m. ET, followed by foil at 11 am and sabre starting at 1:30 p.m.
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