Men’s Fencing Claims St. John's Invitational Title

Saturday, January 18

Queens, N.Y. (Taffner Field House)

St. John's University

St. John's Invitational

Men’s Fencing Claims St. John's Invitational Title

1/18/2020 9:30:00 PM | Fencing

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Coach Yury Gelman’s men’s program wins the invitational championship for the first time in three years

By: Nicholas Diamantis

QUEENS, N.Y. (Jan. 18, 2020) – Taking on five schools that all rank inside the top five in this week's College Fencing 360 Coaches Poll, the St. John's men's fencing program was crowned invitational champions after going 4-1 with victories over Harvard, Notre Dame, Penn State and the top-seeded, defending national champion Columbia on Saturday afternoon at Taffner Field House.

After four competitive rounds that saw the St. John's, Ohio State, and Penn State men's fencing teams fight for first place heading into the final draw of matches, the Johnnies claimed the cup with a 16-11 victory over Harvard while Ohio State dropped its lone contest of the evening to Penn State. The Red Storm's 16-11 win over Penn State earlier this afternoon sealed the championship for Yury Gelman's squad, its first in three years.

The men's team was led by two of its freshmen fencers Karol Lademann, who went a team-best 11-4 on the afternoon, and Maksym Kariuchenko, who picked up 10 wins in 15 bouts in his first collegiate tournament. As a team, the men's fencing program picked up a total of 73 wins on the afternoon.

Three Red Storm fencers in the men's epee competition registered at least six wins with Kariuchenko accumulating 10, 2019 NCAA All-American Ivan Zagoruiko tallying eight and Nathan Vaysberg registering six triumphs. Freshmen Jan Jurkiewicz and Vadim Bazulev combined for 17 of St. John's 25 foil triumphs.

The women's squad, which boasts some of the best upperclassmen in the nation, came in fourth place at the invitational against five of the top six female fencing programs nationwide.

Senior Karolina Kaleta led the saber squad without fellow senior and defending NCAA Champion Karolina Cieslar, who was unable to compete due to injury. The saber specialist from Warsaw, Poland was victorious in 11 of her 15 bouts in her final home tournament.

Katarzyna Lachman sustained her stellar form this season with 12 triumphs in foil, leading all Red Storm female fencers on the afternoon. In the women's epee competition, Andrea Rizzi and newcomer Nicole Gavrilko each scored 10 wins on the strip, as the squad registered a team-leading 27 victories for the Johnnies. Fifth year fencer Dominique Tannous accounted for the other seven successes in women's epee.

NEXT UP

Coach Gelman's squad will return to the piste tomorrow in the City of Brotherly Love for the Pennsylvania Invitational.

The rest of the complete team and individual results are listed below:

COMBINED RECORDS
Ohio State: 8-2
St. John's: 6-4
Columbia: 6-4
Penn State: 5-5
Notre Dame: 3-7
Harvard: 2-8

MEN'S TEAM RECORDS

St. John's                4-1**
Ohio State 4-1
Penn State 3-2
Harvard 2-3
Columbia 2-3
Notre Dame 0-5

ST. JOHN'S MEN'S RESULTS (4-1)

Round 1: St. John's 14, Columbia 13
Round 2: Ohio State 17, St. John's 10
Round 3: St. John's 16, Penn State 11
Round 4: St. John's 16, Notre Dame 11
Round 5: St. John's 16, Harvard 11

WOMEN'S TEAM RECORDS

Ohio State              4-1**
Columbia               4-1
Notre Dame 3-2
St. John's                2-3
Penn State              2-3
Harvard                  0-5

ST. JOHN'S WOMEN'S RESULTS (2-3)

Round 1: Columbia 17, St. John's 10
Round 2: Ohio State 16, St. John's 11
Round 3: St. John's 16, Penn State 11
Round 4: Notre Dame 14, St. John's 13
Round 5: St. John's 16, Harvard 11

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Men's Saber (21-24)
Karol Lademann, 11-4
Sal Centanni, 6-7
Dalton Walker, 4-9
Mark Dammer, 0-4

Men's Foil (25-20)
Jan Jurkiewicz, 9-3
Vadim Bazulev, 8-6
Maxime Tarasiewicz, 6-5
Malcolm Jackson, 2-6

Men's Epee (27-18)
Maksym Kariuchenko, 10-5
Ivan Zagoruiko, 8-4
Nathan Vaysberg, 6-5
Shomari Moore, 3-4

Women's Saber (17-28)
Karolina Kaleta, 11-4
Salome Rodgers, 4-11
Lily Nguyen, 2-13

Women's Foil (22-23)
Katarzyna Lachman, 12-3
Arianna Pappone, 8-7
Zahida Khan, 0-15

Women's Epee (27-18)
Andrea Rizzi: 10-4
Nicole Gavrilko: 10-4
Dominique Tannous: 7-7
Melanie Dolgonos, 0-3