Fencing: Yergler takes NCAA title as team finishes 2nd

Princeton’s second-place finish was the team’s best since the NCAA combined men’s and women’s fencing championships in 1990. Previously, the Tigers had finished fourth on four occasions, including 2011.

“This is probably the strongest team Princeton’s ever had,” said junior epeeist Ed Kelley, who earned All-America honors in his first appearance at nationals. “Coming into NCAAs projected as one of the top teams, and then actually completing that, is pretty cool. I think we met those expectations.”

Just as in last year’s competition, no other team surpassed the performance of Princeton’s women. The Tigers collected 88 points in the women’s competition, which spanned the first two days, leaving Princeton in a tie for first place with Ohio State at the midway point.

Freshman epeeist Kat Holmes led the way with a stellar 19-4 mark in round-robin competition, good enough to earn one of four spots in the direct-elimination tournament for individual honors. Holmes lost her semifinal match to finish in a tie for third, as did junior Eliza Stone in the women’s saber. Stone reached the medal round for the second straight year after taking a silver medal in 2011, but she was again bounced by Duke’s Rebecca Ward, who went on to win her third national championship.

Junior epeeist Hannah Safford, freshman foilist Ambika Singh and sophomore foilist Eve Levin joined Holmes and Stone in receiving All-America honors, given to the top 12 finishers in each event.

But the Buckeyes ran away from the competition early on the weekend, dominating the men’s events to win the national championship by 21 points. That left three teams in a closely contested fight for second place, as Princeton held off Notre Dame by one point and St. John’s by three.

With the national championship decided, Sunday’s drama was confined to the individual competition. Princeton was represented in the final four of each weapon, with sophomore saberist Philip Dershwitz and senior foilist Alexander Mills joining Yergler in the final stage of the weekend.

Mills, who earned All-America honors for the fourth time in his career, and Dershwitz were ranked second after round-robin competition, but both lost semifinal matches by identical 15-12 scores. That left Yergler, who earned the fourth seed in epee by a tiebreaker.

Yergler was not even assured a spot at NCAAs two weeks ago, as he was the only one of Princeton’s 12 qualifiers who did not earn an automatic bid at regionals and needed an at-large berth. But he had championship experience after finishing second in 2011, which he relied on in the medal round.

“Being in this situation before, I was pretty prepared to know what kind of focus I need to have, and I was able to really lock in and take control of the bouts,” he said.

In the semifinals, Yergler and Ohio State’s Marco Canevari traded touches in the early going, pulling even at 6-6. From then on, Yergler dominated the competition, eventually winning 15-10 in a repeat of last year’s semifinal.

The junior was never threatened in his championship match against Columbia’s Alen Hadzic, pulling away for a 15-8 victory. Yergler became Princeton’s first individual champion since Soren Thompson ’05 claimed an epee title in 2001.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

“I felt I could beat anybody in the top four,” he said. “I had a good strategy going in, and it worked, basically. I was incredibly focused, and I did well when I needed to, and luckily I came out on top.”

“For both of his bouts in the top four, he was very smart tactically and very handily beat both opponents. He just fenced smarter than both of them,” Kelley said.

The Tigers’ performance lived up to some very high expectations. After going 23-2 in dual-meet competition, the women’s team entered nationals ranked first in the country; the men were slotted second behind the Buckeyes after going 19-3. Both teams swept the Ivy League Round-Robin to earn conference championships.

“Of course we would have liked to win NCAAs. Ohio State just fenced incredibly in all weapons, and it’s tough to match that,” Kelley said. “Between Ivy League championships, one of the best regular-season records and then this NCAA result, it was an incredible season.”