MEDFORD, Mass. – At the NCAA Fencing Northeast Regional Championship hosted by Tufts University on Sunday, junior Henry Zhang (Scarsdale, N.Y.) led the No. 4 MIT men's fencing team with a career-best 10^th place finish in foil. Senior Patrick Xinyi Liu (Brookline, Mass.) led the epee contingent in 17^th place while first-year Zachary Tong (Marietta, Ga.) was the top performer for the sabre squad as he finished 22^nd.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Epee
  • Liu, who competed in foil twice and made his second appearance in epee, ended the day in 17^th place.
    • Following a bye, Liu won all six bouts in the second round as he defeated Colin Yu of BC (5-4), Luke Strauss of Brandeis (5-3), Alexander North of Vassar (5-3), Lars Ponikvar of St. John's (5-3), Ajit Sivakumar of NYU (5-2), and Justin Haddad of Columbia (5-4).
    • In the next round, Liu defeated Eli Weise of Vassar (5-3) but lost to Thomas Wheelan of Yale (5-4), Ethan Kushnerik of Columbia (5-3), Justin Haddad (5-1), Danlil Mazur of St. John's (5-4), and Alexander Tafur of Harvard (5-4) to finish with a 1-5 mark.
  • Senior Wilson Zhu (Diamond Bar, Calif.) ranked 21^st overall.
    • After a bye, Zhu posted a 4-2 record in the second round. He defeated Jabreel Green of LIU (5-3), Mark Shamis of Brandeis (5-0), Daniel Lee of Yale (5-2), and Thomas Huang of BC (5-3) but lost to Ethan Kushnerik of Columbia (5-2) and Henry Lawson of Harvard (5-3).
    • In the next round, Zhu defeated Luka Loncar of Columbia (5-3) but lost to Konstantin Vaysbukh of Yale (5-2), Henry Lawson (5-2), Brian Li of Vassar (5-2), Colin Yu of BC (5-4), and Samuel Imrek of St. John's (5-1) for a 1-5 total.
  • First-year Alec Zhang (Saratoga, Calif.) finished in 28^th place.
    • A recipient of a bye, Zhang went 2-4 in the second round as he defeated Jeffrey Longstreet of Brandeis (5-4) and Steven Grams of NYU (5-4) but lost to Daniel Gao of BC (5-3), Nicholas Zhang of Harvard (5-4), Mohamed Elsayed Saleh of LIU (5-0), and Spencer Collymore of St. John's (5-1).
  • First-year Rishi Shiv (Houston, Texas) rounded out MIT in 35^th place.
    • Following a bye, Shiv lost to Thomas Wheelan of Yale (5-1), Peter Nikolov of NYU (5-4), Eli Weise of Vassar (5-4), Danlil Mazur of St. John's (5-4), Luka Loncar of Columbia (5-2), and Alexander Tafur of Harvard (5-4) for a 0-6 ledger.
       
• Foil
  • Zhang's 10^th place finish tied the best foil performance for the Engineers since Patrick Xinyi Liu achieved this ranking in 2022.
    • The recipient of a bye, Zhang went 3-3 in the second round as he defeated Andrew Chen of Harvard (5-3), Ethan Capra of Vassar (5-2), and Michael Yerokhin of Brandeis (5-1) but lost to Anup Banerjee of NYU (5-2), Vinni Yu of Yale (5-3), and Samarth Kumbla of Columbia (5-3).
    • In the third round, Zhang won five of six bouts as he defeated Oliver Hu of NYU (5-1), Daniel Zhang of Harvard (5-2), Castor Kao of Yale (5-2), Jacob Bartel of Sacred Heart (5-1), and Adam Yang of BC (5-3) but lost to Samarth Kumbla (5-2).
    • Zhang closed out the day with a 4-7 ledger in the final round. He defeated Adam Yang (5-3), Nicholas Kim of Yale (5-3), Marsel Nagimov of Columbia (5-2), and Jan Nowak of St. John's (5-4) but lost to Elijah Onik of BC (5-4), Vinni Yu (5-3), Castor Kao (5-3), Anup Banerjee (5-2), Samarth Kumbla (5-1), Andrew Chen (5-2), and Igor Wozniak of St. John's (5-3).
  • Sophomore Andy Zhang (Suwanee, Ga.) ranked 18^th overall.
    • Following a first-round bye, Zhang generated a 5-1 record as he defeated Igor Wozniak of St. John's (5-2), Jacob Lee of Brandeis (5-1), Christian Ko of BC (5-4), David Belluomo of Sacred Heart (5-2), and Matthew Cheng of Yale (5-0) but lost to Oliver Hu of NYU (5-0).
    • In the third round, Zhang defeated Ethan Kwon of BC (5-2) but lost to Adam Wong of NYU (5-3), Marsel Nagimov of Columbia (5-0), Michael Yerokhin of Brandeis (5-3), Vinni Yu of Yale (5-2), and Jan Nowak of St. John's (5-2) to finish at 1-5.
  • Senior Richard Lin (Melville, N.Y.) finished in 40^th place.
    • Lin defeated Brady Traugot of Vassar (5-3) but lost to Lovro Prosoli of LIU (5-3), Jacob Lee of Brandeis (5-0), and Jacob Bartel of Sacred Heart (5-1) in the first round.
  • Junior Niles Liu (Bedford, Mass.) rounded out the Engineers in 41^st place.
    • In the opening round, Liu fell to Alex Fortune of Brandeis (5-4), Matthew Cheng of Yale (5-1), Alexander Ligos of Sacred Heart (5-1), and Ethan Capra of Vassar (5-4).

 

• Sabre
  • Tong led MIT by finishing in 22^nd place.
    • Following a bye, Tong went 3-3 as he defeated Devan McCarthy of Vassar (5-3), Connor Liang of Harvard (5-2), and Colin Noble of BC (5-4) but lost to Adham Moataz of St. John's (5-2), Matthew Chaves of Brandeis (5-2), and Jordan Silbersweig of Yale (5-0).
  • First-year Eric Wang (Foothill Ranch, Calif.) ranked 25^th.
    • The recipient of a bye, Wang defeated Jerry Pan of NYU (5-3) and Dethie Diop of LIU (5-1) but lost to Jack Pan of Yale (5-1), Jaden Callahan of Columbia (5-4), Lev Benavram of Brandeis (5-1), and William Xu of BC (5-4) to finish with a 2-4 ledger.
  • Junior Surya Sakhamuri (Sharon, Mass.) was 27^th overall.
    • After a bye, Sakhamuri defeated Vlad Covaliu of St. John's (5-4) and Ryan Wong of BC (5-4) but lost to Faaris Hussain of NYU (5-2), Justin Lee of Yale (5-1), Matthew Linsky of Harvard (5-1), and Nicholas Harvey of Columbia (5-4) for a 2-4 total.
  • Senior Alex Harris (New York, N.Y.) finished in 29^th place.
    • In the first round, Harris went 2-2 as he defeated Munir Aldabagh of LIU (5-1) and Karthik Shankar of Vassar (5-3) but lost to Daniel Lendvai of St. John's (5-2) and Alex Piwowar of Brandeis (5-4).
    • In the second round, Harris defeated Andrew Gefell of LIU (5-1) but lost to Ansh Ghayalod of NYU (5-3), Prash Subbiah of Harvard (5-1), Alex Piwowar (5-4), Jackson McBride of Columbia (5-1), and Darii Lukashenko of St. John's (5-4) for a 1-5 record.

 
UP NEXT:
 

• MIT will learn if any fencers qualified for the NCAA National Collegiate Championship on Tuesday, March 11 via ncaa.com.

 
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