Irish in First Place After Day One of NCAA Championships

DURHAM, NC. – The Irish wrapped up day one of the 2023 NCAA Championships in Durham, North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium. All three weapons made an impact on the first day of competition.

The Irish finished day one of nationals with the top finisher in men’s sabre and top-10 finishers in foil and sabre. As a team, Notre Dame sits in first place with 62 points and are ten points ahead of any other team. Columbia is in second place with 52 points, and Princteon sits in third with 47 points. 

Men’s Epee

Competing in their first ever NCAA Championship, Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle and Maruan Osman-Touson finished their first day of round robin competition. Osman-Touson sits in eleventh place after the first three rounds with eight victories. Hamilton-Meikle finished not far behind at thirteenth place with eight victories as well.

Both were able to string together multiple wins in a row to give them a strong showing in the first few rounds.   Osman-Touson and Hamilton-Meikle will return to competition tomorrow for the final two round-robin competition period. 

Men’s Foil

The foil squad had a great showing as freshman Chase Emmer won every bout except one, collecting 13 victories on the day giving an exceptional performance for the first day. Emmer currently sits in second place in the men’s foil group after fifteen bouts. Senior Marcello Olivares added on to the exceptional performances for the Irish as won 12 of his fifteen bouts. Olivares sits in fourth place headed into the final two rounds of round robin competition.

Men’s Sabre

Sabre joined in on the fun when they got started on the day, taking first place and sixth place after the first three rounds. Luke Linder currently leads the entire sabre group with twelve wins after fourteen bouts. Jared Smith is in sixth place with nine wins. Smith ended his day with a nice 5-0 win in his last match.

Linder throughout the day strung together six wins in a row twice to ultimately finish the day in first place. Smith had a similar successful day when he had three matches results in wins back-to-back-to-back. Both will return to the strip for the final two rounds of round-robin competition tomorrow.

STANDINGS

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE FENCING CHAMPIONSHIPS

MARCH 23-26, 2022

CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM | DUKE

DURHAM, NC.

MEN’S COMPETITION (MARCH 23-24)

Epee (Rounds 1-3)

11.Maruan Osman-Touson, 8-7 (+4)

13.Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, 8-7 (-2)

Foil (Rounds 1-3)

2.Chase Emmer,  13-2 (+28)

4.Marcello Olivares, 12-3 (+24)

Sabre (Rounds 1-3)

1.Luke Linder,  12-2 (+31)

6.Jared Smith, 9-5 (+19)

Team Standings

1. Notre Dame 62
2. Columbia 52
3. Princeton 47

Up Next

The men will return to thes trip for the final two rounds of the round-robin play Friday morning. After the two rounds are completed, the top-four finishers will advance to the semifinals starting at 1:30 p.m. ET in the afternoon.