MADISON, N.J. (March 3, 2024) – Sophomore Nick Reznick earned a bronze medal, while juniors Colin Mahoney and Nicholas Smith each posted a top-eight finish in their respective weapon, to lead the Stevens Institute of Technology men's fencing team Sunday at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association Championships, hosted by Drew University.

Reznick finished third at foil, while Mahoney placed fifth at sabre and Smith was seventh at epee, to each earn all-conference recognition for the Ducks, who also placed fifth out of 15 squads in the team standings.

Collectively, the Ducks won 90 of their 126 bouts in the team portion of the competition to total a winning percentage of 0.714. The Ducks ended up in a statistical tie with fourth-place Cornell, however, Cornell had a net rating of 30 more touches than Stevens (+163 vs. +133) to slide ahead of Stevens. Johns Hopkins won an impressive 111 of 126 matches (.881 winning percentage) to earn the team title for the second straight year. NJIT amassed an even 100 victories to finish second, while Drew placed third to round out the top five.

Within their three weapon groups, Stevens finished second at sabre, third at epee and eighth at foil. Following the team competition, the top nine fencers from line 'A' were joined by the top five from line 'B' and the top fencer on line 'C' to advance to the direct elimination round. 

"Sabre and epee fenced great today," head coach Jim Carpenter said. "Our foil group battled but are fighting through the same injury issues they've had all season. We have regionals next weekend and then we can heal up!"

Reznick earned his medal at foil after advancing to the semifinals of the weapon's direct elimination bracket as the 16th seed. He began his run with an impressive 15-12 decision over top-seeded Ben Hergert of Lafayette College. The direct elimination rounds were contested to 15 touches (international rules) as opposed to the traditional five-touch bout in the collegiate duals. Reznick then topped eighth-seeded Jack Bratton of William & Mary in the table of eight. Reznick's run came to an end in the semifinals, however, where the Marlboro, New Jersey native fell to Johns Hopkins' fifth-seeded Spencer Grossman-Smisek. Grossman-Smisek would go on to earn the gold medal with a 13-12 victory over Drew's Michael DeSando.

Mahoney earned the second seed at sabre after an impressive performance in the team competition and won his table of 16 matchup with Drew's Michael Parkhurst via a 15-4 margin. He then dropped out of the competition with a setback to Johns Hopkins' Qilin Tong. 

Smith earned his epee medal after earning a 15-7 victory in his table of 16 matchup with Drew's Julio Arias in the 7-10 matchup. Smith, who was seeded 10th and was the lone 'C' line fencer in the epee direct elimination round, dropped out of the bracket with a hard-fought loss to second-seeded Danuel Jeun of Johns Hopkins. 

Reznick earned six victories in the round-robin matches from the 'A' line, while sophomore James Glover led the weapon group with eight wins from line 'B.' Senior Erik Marran posted four wins from line 'C' to round out the foil group's victories in the crossover bouts. Collectively, the Ducks totaled 23 victories and 128 touches. Johns Hopkins claimed 35 of 42 bouts to win the team title.

At sabre, Mahoney went 11-2 from line 'A' to post the second-best record in the team competition. Graduate student Dylan Woodward joined Mahoney in the direct elimination field after going 10-3 from line 'B.' Junior John Morreale also posted a strong record, going 10-2 from line 'C,' however, the Wall, New Jersey native fell one victory shy of advancing from the team competition. Collectively, Stevens' sabre squad earned wins in 35 of their 42 matches to place second, finishing one spot ahead of NJIT. Johns Hopkins won 41 matches to win the weapon title.

Finally, over at epee, sophomore Andrew Yurovchak was the Ducks' top fencer, going 13-1 with 69 touches from line 'B.' The Nashua, New Hampshire native led all epee fencers in both wins and touches. Smith posted a 9-2 record in pool play with a +13 margin in touches. First-year Noah Tumibay and graduate student Patrick Pan combined for seven wins from the 'A' line and combined to finish +1 in touches.

Up Next: Stevens returns to Madison for the third time this season on Mar. 9 for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships, which will determine the national qualifiers. Appropriate event links will be posted to StevensDucks.com once available.

Athletic Department Social Media
Facebook: "Like" Stevens Athletics         
Twitter: @stevensducks
Instagram: @stevensducks

Men's Fencing Social Media
Facebook: "Like" Stevens Fencing
Twitter: @stevensfencing
Instagram: @stevensfencing

#AllRise