St. John's University Athletics
10 Red Storm Fencers Qualify for NCAA Championships
3/19/2021 8:34:00 PM | Fencing
The tournament will be hosted in State College, Pa., from March 25-28
QUEENS, N.Y. (Mar. 19, 2021) – The St. John's fencing program earned 10 bids to the 2021 NCAA Fencing Championships that will be hosted by Pennsylvania State University at the Bryce Jordan Center from March 25-28, 2021.
Because of COVID-19 contact tracing protocols, only eight fencers will be eligible to compete in the event.
The field of 144 fencers from 20 different schools will compete in a round-robin format of five bouts for each individual weapon. After the round-robin, the top-four finishers in each weapon will fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with the winners fencing to determine first and second places, and the non-advancing being awarded a tie for third place.
An institution's place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.
Junior Arianna Pappone will be making her second appearance in the NCAA tournament as she came in 20th place back in 2019 when she collected seven victories. Last season, the Latina, Italy native captured the bronze medal at the NCAA Northeast Regionals. She then followed it up by leading the Red Storm women's foil team with 21 victories on the stripe this season.
Freshmen Cesar Colon and Fanni Potz-Nagy earned bids in their first opportunities as collegiate fencers. Potz-Nagy took the women's saber team by storm, posting an undefeated record of 21-0. Colon finished off the regular season against Sacred Heart by winning four of his six bouts, collecting 19 in total for the season.
Last year, men's foilist Maxime Tarasiewicz and women's epee specialist Nicole Gavrilko both earned a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in their collegiate careers but were unable to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a sophomore in 2021, Gavrilko led the epee squad with 17 wins with seven of them coming at the Temple Invitational.
Epee specialist Nathan Vaysberg earned his third bid to the NCAA tournament. The junior finished in 23rd place at the competition in 2019 and captured five victories. Another veteran Karolina Kaleta will be returning to the championship after she came in 18th place during the 2019 saber competition.
Senior saber specialist Dalton Walker earned a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in his collegiate career. This season, the Jersey City, N.J., native collected 18 victories this season in all four of the men's matches. At the Northeast Regionals in 2019, he came in 12th place.
Since men's and women's teams began competing together in 1990, St. John's has won one NCAA Championship (2001) and finished as the runner-up five times (1995, 2000, 2002,2007, 2010). The Red Storm has had 25 individual NCAA champions and Head Coach Yury Gelman's squad has finished in sixth-place or better for 27 straight seasons.
For more information about the championships log on to NCAA.com. A live feed of the semifinal and final bouts will be available on ESPN3 or WatchESPN app. Semifinals and finals, along with other championships highlights will air on ESPNU at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 15.
Because of COVID-19 contact tracing protocols, only eight fencers will be eligible to compete in the event.
The field of 144 fencers from 20 different schools will compete in a round-robin format of five bouts for each individual weapon. After the round-robin, the top-four finishers in each weapon will fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with the winners fencing to determine first and second places, and the non-advancing being awarded a tie for third place.
An institution's place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.
Junior Arianna Pappone will be making her second appearance in the NCAA tournament as she came in 20th place back in 2019 when she collected seven victories. Last season, the Latina, Italy native captured the bronze medal at the NCAA Northeast Regionals. She then followed it up by leading the Red Storm women's foil team with 21 victories on the stripe this season.
Freshmen Cesar Colon and Fanni Potz-Nagy earned bids in their first opportunities as collegiate fencers. Potz-Nagy took the women's saber team by storm, posting an undefeated record of 21-0. Colon finished off the regular season against Sacred Heart by winning four of his six bouts, collecting 19 in total for the season.
Last year, men's foilist Maxime Tarasiewicz and women's epee specialist Nicole Gavrilko both earned a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in their collegiate careers but were unable to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a sophomore in 2021, Gavrilko led the epee squad with 17 wins with seven of them coming at the Temple Invitational.
Epee specialist Nathan Vaysberg earned his third bid to the NCAA tournament. The junior finished in 23rd place at the competition in 2019 and captured five victories. Another veteran Karolina Kaleta will be returning to the championship after she came in 18th place during the 2019 saber competition.
Senior saber specialist Dalton Walker earned a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time in his collegiate career. This season, the Jersey City, N.J., native collected 18 victories this season in all four of the men's matches. At the Northeast Regionals in 2019, he came in 12th place.
Since men's and women's teams began competing together in 1990, St. John's has won one NCAA Championship (2001) and finished as the runner-up five times (1995, 2000, 2002,2007, 2010). The Red Storm has had 25 individual NCAA champions and Head Coach Yury Gelman's squad has finished in sixth-place or better for 27 straight seasons.
For more information about the championships log on to NCAA.com. A live feed of the semifinal and final bouts will be available on ESPN3 or WatchESPN app. Semifinals and finals, along with other championships highlights will air on ESPNU at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 15.
Players Mentioned
Foil
/ Fencing
Epee
/ Fencing
Foil
/ Fencing
Saber
/ Fencing
Epee
/ Fencing2020 St. John's Invitational Reel
Saturday, January 18
St. John's University Fencing Invitational Highlights
Saturday, January 19