Three Canadians Win Medals in NCAA Fencing Championships
Canadian Fencing Federation – Canadians were well represented in the NCAA Fencing Championships that took place this past weekend in Waltham, Massachusetts. Eight Canadians qualified for the NCAA Fencing Championships and three of them won medals!
Canadian women continue to show their depth in women’s foil. Eleanor Harvey (Hamilton, ON) won gold, while Alanna Goldie (Calgary, AB) won bronze in the women’s foil championships, both representing Ohio State University.
After day one of competition, junior Eleanor Harvey moved up from fourth place to second with 21 victories and a +67 indicator. Harvey faced Notre Dame’s Sabrina Massialas in the semi-final round, winning the bout 15-9. In the final, Harvey went up against Columbia’s Jackie Dubrovich and she came from behind to defeat the number one seed, 15-10.
Junior Alanna Goldie improved from fifth place after day one to fourth place, earning 19 wins and a +50 touch differential. Goldie was defeated by silver medalist Jackie Dubrovich in a very close semi-final bout, 15-14. This was Goldie’s third NCAA Championships bronze medal, having tied for third in both 2015 and 2014.
Also representing Ohio State University was sophomore Marc-Antoine Blais-Belanger (Montreal, QC) who finished with a silver medal. Blais-Belanger finished the round-robin ranked second overall, winning 18 bouts and claiming a +19 indicator. He went up against St. John’s fencer Yevgeniy Karuchenko, the 2014 epee champion in the semi-finals and defeated him 15-14 in a thrilling back and forth bout. In the final, Blais-Belanger faced off with defending champion Jake Hoyle from Columbia University. Blais-Belanger led through the first two periods but fell behind in the third and wasn’t able to catch up, dropping the bout 15-9 to finish with a silver medal.
Other Canadians who took part in the 2016 NCAA Fencing Championships were Jenny Zhao (Kanata, Ontario) from Yale who finished 21st in women’s foil, Emma Von Dadelszen (Vancouver, BC) from Ohio State who came 12th in women’s epee, Fares Arfa (Laval, QC) from Ohio State who finished 5th and just out of the medal round in men’s sabre, and Shaul Gordon (Richmond, BC) who finished 6th in men’s sabre and fenced for University of Pennsylvania.
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Canadian Fencing Federation