STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford fencing is back on the road this weekend, heading east for the Elite Invitational in Pennsylvania. The competition schedule has the Cardinal squaring off with a number of teams ranked in the top-10, including No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 3 Columbia. The Cardinal women enter the weekend ranked No. 14 in the USFCA Preseason Poll.
LAST TIME OUT » Stanford competed at the Western Invitational two weeks ago, with the women's team going 6-2 and the men's side going 4-2. Both teams upset No. 1 Harvard, and the women’s team added an upset of No. 5 Northwestern. The men's and women's foil teams combined to go a perfect 14-0, and the women's saber squad went 7-1.
KEY RETURNERS » The Cardinal returns four athletes that qualified for last season's NCAA Championships – Arianna Cao, Sanjay Kasi, Jared Hammerstrom and Second Team All-America selection Crystal Qian. The group started strong in San Diego, led by Cao's 18-2 mark in the two-day competition. Kasi ended 15-3, Qian went 10-3 and Hammerstrom went 10-8.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS » The newcomers showed out in San Diego, led by freshman Renzo Fukuda (16-2) and grad transfer Benjamin Shih (12-6) combining to go 28-8 as the men's foil squad went a perfect 6-0.
STUDENT, OLYMPIAN, COACH » Massialas is back on The Farm in a new position as first-year head coach. Massialas boasts one of the most successful fencing careers in Cardinal history, as a two time individual NCAA Champion in the men's foil (2013, 2015) at Stanford, and a three-time Olympic medalist in four trips to the Olympic Games.