COLUMBUS, Ohio -The Fighting Irish fencing program finished in second place at the NCAA Championships on Sunday, claiming silver over the four days of competition with 161 points. Harvard won the team title with 169 points and Columbia/Barnard came in third with 149.
Notre Dame fencer Luke Linder became the most decorated men’s fencer in program history on Sunday, winning his third NCAA sabre title in the last four years. Linder is the only Fighting Irish men’s fencer with three NCAA individual titles (2021, 2023, 2024).
Linder’s three titles also put him in elite company in NCAA fencing history, as he becomes just the fifth men’s sabre fencer in NCAA history with at least 3 individual national titles and the first since 2006.
The Notre Dame fencing program now has 45 individual NCAA titles, with the men accounting for 21 of them. The Fighting Irish men have won six NCAA individual sabre titles in program history, with Linder accounting for half of the trophies.
Linder was on a mission over the two days of round-robin bouts, posting a record of 22-1 to qualify as the top seed for the semifinal knockout rounds. The senior made quick work in his semifinal, dispatching of the No. 3 seed by a score of 15-7. Linder never trailed in the final, defeating No. 2 seed Neil Lilov from Penn State by a score of 15-13 to claim the championship title.
Another notable performance came from Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, who nearly won his first individual national championship in epee. The sophomore advanced to the knockout round as the No. 3 seed, after going 16-7 over the two days of round-robin competition. Hamilton-Meikle defeated the No. 2 seed Allen Marakov in the semifinal by a score of 15-12 before barely falling to the top-seed Tristan Szapary from Princeton in the final by a razor-thin margin of 15-14 to take the silver medal.
Five of Notre Dame’s six men’s fencers finished in the top eight for the competition, highlighted by Linder’s gold and Hamilton-Meikle’s silver. Other top eight finishes were Marcello Olivares (6th – foil), Alexandre Lacaze (7th – sabre) and Ziyuan Chen (8th – foil).
STANDINGS
Sabre
1. Luke Linder, 22-1 (+63)
7. Alexandre Lacaze, 14-9 (+13)
Epee
2. Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, 16-7 (+27)
18. Valentin Matveev, 8-15 (-9)
Foil
6. Marcello Olivares, 14-9 (+21)
8. Ziyuan Chen, 14-9 (+15)
TEAM STANDINGS
- Harvard (169)
- Notre Dame (161)
- Columbia/Barnard (149)
- Princeton (131)
- Penn State (130)