Air Force Places Ninth At NCAA Fencing Championships

Air Force fencing finished in ninth place at the 2021 NCAA Fencing Championships, held March 25-28 at University Park, Pa., on the Penn State Campus. It was Air Force's best finish since 2003. Highlighting the weekend were All-America honors by sophomore Matthew Han and junior Nestor Levin.

The Falcons tallied 79 points on the weekend, ranking second amongst Western Fencing Conference teams.

Han was Air Force's highest finisher, placing seventh in the men's epee. Han had 12 bout victories, securing Second-Team All-American honors.

Levin placed eighth in the men's foil, with a team-leading 14 bout victories. Levin also earned Second-Team All-American honors.

Senior Matt Goode followed in 16th place in men's saber with 11 victories. Senior Will Nikolai was 20th in men's sabre with seven wins.

Freshman Griffin Peter was 20th in men's foil with five victories. Freshman Russell Cha was 22nd in men's epee with seven wins.

On the women's side, senior Kaitlyn Guo led the way with a 15th place finish in women's foil. Guo led the women with eight bout victories.

Senior Nicole Agob finished 17th in women's epee with seven wins. Freshman Catherine Kim was 22nd in women's sabre with four wins. Freshman Josie Ratzlaff finished 23rd in women's epee with three victories.

"It was great to compete with 10 cadet-athletes at the NCAA Championships for the first time in Academy history," head coach Omar Elgeziry said. "Our cadets gained vast experience and there were many lessons that we have learned and that we will use to perform better in the future. I am proud of our team and extremely happy for Matthew and Nestor earning All-American honors. This team is progressively growing and I am excited to see how high we will go in the future. Overall, it was a great way to end our collegiate season, placing our team in the top 10 in the country. Go Falcons!"

Notre Dame was the crowned the 2021 NCAA Fencing Champions.

Air Force Fencing at 2021 NCAA Championships

Men
Russell Cha, Fr. - Epée - 22nd place/7 bout victories
Matt Goode, Sr. - Saber - 16th place/11 bout victories
Matthew Han, So. - Epée - 7th place/12 bout victories
Nestor Levin, Jr. - Foil - 8th place/14 bout victories
Will Nikolai, Sr. - Sabre - 20th place/7 bout victories
Griffin Peter, Fr. - Foil - 20th place/5 bout victories

Women
Nicole Agob, Sr. - Epée - 17th/7 bout victories
Kaitlyn Guo, Sr. - Foil - 15th/8 bout victories
Catherine Kim, Fr. - Sabre - 22nd/4 bout victories
Josie Ratzlaff, Fr. - Epée - 23rd/3 bout victories

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