CHAPEL HILL, N.C – Stanford fencing landed a pair on the podium in the program’s first trip to the ACC Championships. Alexander Jeon finished second in men’s epee, and Renzo Fukuda finished third in men’s foil at the second day of the ACC Championships in North Carolina.
Jeon went 3-2 in men’s epee pool play to advance to the quarterfinals, where he defeated his teammate Kai Rayle 15-8 to reach the semifinal. Rayle reached the round of eight after going 4-1 in pool play.
Jeon picked up a 15-12 win in the semifinal over North Carolina’s Aiden Click to advance to the final against Eli Lippman, also from North Carolina. The sophomore came up just short, falling 15-12 in the final.
All three members of the Cardinal foil squad advanced to the quarterfinal, with Sanjay Kasi leading at 5-1 in pool play to earn the No. 2 seed. Benjamin Shih went 3-2 to take the sixth seed, and Fukuda earned a quarterfinal matchup with Shih after going 3-2.
Fukuda topped Shih en route to a third place finish, joining Jeon as the first two members of the Cardinal to medal in the ACC. The trio each finished in the top 10, with Kasi finishing sixth and Shih eighth.
Steve Yang and Jared Hammerstrom each advanced to the quarterfinals for men’s saber, going 4-1 and 4-2 respectively.
In total, seven different Stanford men finished in the top 10 of their respective weapons, with three finishing in the top five. Rayle joined Jeon and Fukuda, coming in fifth in epee.
In the afternoon women’s team competition, the Cardinal topped North Carolina 16-11 to open the day. Stanford followed it up with a 22-5 loss to Notre Dame, where the foil squad showed out with a 5-4 win.
Stanford fell to No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 7 Duke and Boston College to finish fourth in the conference. The women’s foil squad went a perfect 4-0 on the day to lead the Card.
The Cardinal is back tomorrow for day two of the ACC Championships, with the men’s individual competition starting at 5:00 a.m. PT and the women’s team competition getting underway at 10:30 a.m. PT.
Women’s team scores – 4th place, (1-3)
No. 14 Stanford 16, North Carolina 11
No. 2 Notre Dame 22, No. 14 Stanford 5
No. 7 Duke 17, No. 14 Stanford 10
Boston College 14, No. 14 Stanford 13