The Brandeis fencing team began its season this past weekend at the New England Fall Collegiate Championship event. The men and women fared well against some of the conference’s best competitors and were able to rack up multiple top-five medals on the day.

The men’s epee squad was outmatched in its event, gaining only one top-10 spot on the podium. The honor went to epeeist Nick Clancey ’20 who finished in eighth in his collegiate fencing debut. The next Brandeisians to finish were epeeists Hunter Sustnick ’18 and Max Meier ’20, who finished in 16th and 18th, respectively.

Next in line was the foil squad, which owned the competition and took home four top-10 medals. Foilist Len Grazian ’17 tied for third place with foilist Ian Quin ’20, trailing him in sixth. Grazian also tied in his ranking for No. 2 seed in the second round of the event with Quin following in sixth. Foilists Elishua Little ’18 and Guillermo Narvaez ’18 cracked the top-10 and added to the Brandeis hardware with finishes in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Little fell from his second-place finish a year ago in the same event.

The Judges did not fare well in the men’s saber event, garnering only one top-10 finish. Saberist Leon Rotenstein ’20 managed to slide into 10th place after being ranked as high as the No. 7 seed in the tournament’s event. Saberist Kyle Berney ’18 was ranked as the No. 2 seed in the first round but fell to 12th in the second bracket. Berney won a silver medal in the event last year, but he was unable to repeat his near-perfect performance.

The first-years were able to show their muscle in the contest and helped solidify the Judges among the tough competition.

The women’s squad earned multiple top-10 finishes as well. Starting with the foil squad, the Judges were able to win two top-10 medals. Foilist Jessica Gets ’20 was narrowly outdone by the third-place finalist and relegated to a commendable fifth-place finish. Foilist Joanne Carminucci ’19 eased into eighth to give the Judges a respectable standing in the foil event. The two clawed their way into their ranks, as Gets was seeded No. 10 to begin, while Carminucci was pegged as the No. 13 for the second round.  

The Judges struggled in the epee event, managing only one top-10 spot. Epeeist Liz Feller ’18 placed in seventh, while epeeist Dakota Levy ’20 fought her way into the 16th spot. The Judges were poorly seeded, with Feller as the No. 5 seed and Levy as the No. 21 seed to begin the tournament. Feller inched up to No. 4 for the second round, but Levy was reduced to  No. 42 seed.

Saberist Nina Sayles ’17 showed her stripes in the saber event, boasting a shiny silver for the day. Sayles’ finish was fitting for her No. 2 seed throughout the tournament. Sayles battled her way into second after a third-place finish for the first round, solidifying a second-place victory in the second bracket. 

The women were able to show their talent despite a short roster for the season. The women rely on 13 fencers, a big drop off from the 19 they had in their 2015 campaign. The Judges lost an enormous total of nine seniors to graduation last year and have been unable to effectively recruit much-needed fencing talent.

Both teams will continue their season at the Northeast Fencing Conference meet at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Nov. 19. The men are looking to repeat their five-win performance from last year, and the women are aiming to surpass their incredible six-win slashing from their 2015 to 2016 campaign.