NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – The MIT men's fencing team claimed five medals and generated five top 10 finishes at The Big One Invitational hosted by Smith College on Saturday. Corey Zhao led the way by tying for third place in epee, Rohan Dalal ranked fifth in sabre, and Tony Xiao led the foil squad with an 11^th place finish.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED - Epee:

• Zhao went 5-1 in his pool and in direct elimination he defeated Darren Wang of Stony Brook (15-8), Aedin Lai of Northeastern (15-10), and Zichun Wang of Brandeis (15-14) but lost to Alex North of Vassar (15-12) in semifinals to tie for third place.
• Rishi Shiv produced a career-best finish of seventh place. After a 3-2 ledger in his pool, he posted victories against Luke Strauss of Brandeis (15-11) and Bryce Rittershaus of Brandeis (15-6) but was edged out by Dylan Schroeder of Brandeis (15-14) in the round of eight.
• Alec Zhang ranked 22^nd as he notched a 4-1 mark in his pool but fell to Hunter Yu of Brandeis (15-11) in the round of 32.

HOW IT HAPPENED - Foil:

• Xiao won all six bouts in his pool, defeated Jake Amend of Sacred Heart (15-13) in the round of 32 and then lost to Alexander Ligos of Sacred Heart (15-11) to place 11^th.
• Andy Zhang finished right behind Xiao in the standings. He posted a 5-1 mark in his pool, overpowered Giovanni Chessa of Sacred Heart (15-6) in the round of 32 but fell to Jack Sullivan of Brandeis (15-6).
• Yehong Jiang ranked 28^th overall. He had a 4-2 performance in his pool, earned a bye in the round of 64 and then defeated Sam Chin of Dartmouth (15-2). The victory secured Jiang a spot in the top table of 32, however, he lost to Jonah Gesenberg of UNH (15-9).
• Michael Samuel placed 42^nd as he went 2-3 in his pool, defeated Karanbir Gill of Stony Brook (15-5) in the round of 64, but lost to Elliot Davidson of Northeastern (15-11).

HOW IT HAPPENED - Sabre:

• Dalal won all six bouts in his pool and picked up wins against Michael Druzhinin of URI (15-6) and Seth Edelman of Brandeis (15-8) before being edged out by Oliver Lindholm of Sacred Heart (15-13) in the round of eight to finish in fifth place.
• Zachary Tong claimed the next spot as he went 5-0 in his pool, defeated Zander Wolmart of Sacred Heart (15-8) and Karthik Shankar of Vassar (15-10) but lost to Tolga Aslan of Sacred Heart (15-6) in the round of eight.
• Eric Wang was next in seventh place. He had a 6-0 outing in his pool, defeated Ethan Fisk of Northeastern (15-9) and Josh Kessler of Brown (15-9), however, he fell to Devan McCarthy of Vassar (15-13) in the round of eight.
• Brendon Murphy finished in 37^th place as he went 3-3 in his pool, defeated Jason Ricciardi of BU (15-6) in the round of 64 but lost to Edson Luan of Tufts (15-5).
• Henry Smith rounded out MIT in 38^th place. After going 3-3 in his pool, he overpowered David Cui of Hamilton (15-2) in the round of 64 but fell to Michael Druzhinin of URI (15-14).

UP NEXT:

• MIT will compete in the Beanpot on Thursday, November 20 at 5:00 PM at Harvard University.

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