The Brandeis men’s and women’s fencing teams completed their season this past weekend at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, hosted by Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The Judges had a host of top 20 finishes in the three different events on the men’s and women’s side, with Alexander Holtmann ’21 leading the way.
On the men’s side, Holtmann was the only member of The Judges to reach the finals in any of the three events. A saber fencer, Holtmann was originally seeded 21st going into the competition but going 3-2 in the first round of competition helped him clench the 12th spot out of 21 to make it into the semifinals. He beat out fencers from New York University (NYU), Vassar College and Yale University in the round robin competition, according to the official results on the NCAA website.
In the semifinals, Holtmann fought to a 3-3 decision and with a -1 indicator, qualifying for the finals. He beat out two fencers from Columbia University/Barnard College as well as teammate Charles Catino ’20. In the finals, Holtmann went 4-7, picking up wins against regional champion Ben Natanzon from St. John’s College, fourth place finisher Erwin Cai from Harvard University, sixth place finisher Mikolaj Bak from NYU and 12th place finisher Bolang Meng from Boston College.
He narrowly missed qualifying for nationals, with only one finisher in front of him that exceeded the two-fencer-per-team limit, according to an article from Brandeis Judges.
Ian Quin ’20 and Chris Armstrong ’20 also posted top 20 finishes for The Judges, both getting 15th place in foil and epee, respectively. Quin was seeded 14th going into the meet and easily qualified for the semifinals after a 4-2 in the opening round and advanced in 12th place, defeating opponents from MIT, Sacred Heart University, Vassar College and NYU. Quin went 2-4 in the semifinals, defeating opponents from MIT and St. John’s University, but fell short and did not advance to the finals.
Armstrong also started out the day strong with a 3-1 record in the first round, defeating opponents from Boston College, Hunter College and Yeshiva University. In the second round, he went 3-3, defeating people from Harvard, NYU and Brown University, to claim the 19th out of 21 possible spots to qualify for the semifinals. After posting a 2-4 record in the semifinals with wins over fourth place finisher from Harvard, Albert Chien and Timmy Frank from Brown University, Armstrong was one win away from qualifying for the final round.
On the women’s side, Joanne Carminucci ’19 and Renee Pite ’19 both made it to the semifinals in foil. Carminucci was seeded 12th going into the competition and Pite was seeded 26th. Both were exempt from the first round of competition. Hannah Mui ’20 and Wendy Mao ’21 also competed in foil. Mao failed to make it out of the first round but Mui went 2-2 in the first round and finished 35th overall.
In the second round, Carminucci went 4-2 in competition with a -4 indicator, defeating opponents from NYU, Cornell University, Wellesley College and Boston College. Pite also finished 4-2 in the round with a +2 indicator, defeating opponents from Boston College, Harvard University, Tufts University and Vassar College.
In the semifinals, Pite failed to win a match, while Carminucci defeated Cindy Liu from Harvard University. Overall Carminucci finished in 18th while Pite finished in 20th.
Madeleine Vibert ’21 finished 26th in the epee competition after reaching the second round of competition. She went 3-1 in competition in the first round with a +8 indicator and wins over Yale University, LIU Post and Wellesley College. She was eliminated in the second round with a 2-4 record. Teammate Dakota Levy ’20 also made it to the second round of competition, also going 3-1. Levy finished 33rd overall.
Rookie Jada Harrison ’22 made it to the second round in the saber competition. Seeded 29th in the total field of 39, Harrison was exempt from the first round. Harrison went 1-5 in the second round, posting a single win against Wellesley College. She finished 27th overall.
