St. John’s Competes at NCAA Championships

Thursday, March 24

South Bend, Ind.

St. John's University

NCAA Championships

3/27/2022 8:31:00 PM | Fencing

Red Storm finished in seventh at South Bend, Ind.

By: Alex Whisnant

SOUTH BEND, Ind.- The St. John's fencing program wrapped up four days of competition at the NCAA Fencing Championships in South Bend, Ind., on Sunday.

The Red Storm finished in seventh after previously finishing sixth or better for 28 consecutive seasons.

Fares Ferjani earned a First Team All-America nod after winning 18 of his 23 bouts in the men's saber category. Ferjani finished round-robin competition as the top seed but fell in the semifinal round to Duke's Terence Lee and captured a tie for third place. Ferjani's younger brother, Ahmed, finished in 15^th.

Jan Jurkiewicz won 11 of his 23 foil bouts to finish in 12^th and capture a Third Team All-America honor Cesar Colon finished in 24^th.

Ivan Zagoruiko and Mark Dolgonos combined for 17 wins in the men's epee section. Zagoruiko grabbed 15^th place while Dolgonos finished in 22^nd in his NCAA Championships debut.

On the women's side, epee fencer Andrea Rizzi posted a 10^th place finish, earning on a spot on the All-America Third Team and collecting 13 wins in 23 bouts while Nicole Gavrilko finished in 21^st in the epee category.

Julia Cieslar captured 15^th place in the women's saber competition. The younger sister of national champion Karolina Cieslar won 10 of her 23 bouts in her debut at the national championships.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS AND RECORDS

MEN'S SABER
Fares Ferjani- T-3^rd place— First Team All-American—18-5
Ahmed Ferjani—15^th place—10-13

MEN'S FOIL
Jan Jurkiewicz—12^th place—Third Team All-American—11-12
Cesar Colon—24^th place—4-19

MEN'S EPEE
Ivan Zagoruiko—15^th place—10-13
Mark Dolgonos—22^nd place—7-16

WOMEN'S SABER
Julia Cieslar—15^th place—10-13

WOMEN'S EPEE
Andrea Rizzi—10^th place—Third Team All-American—13-10
Nicole Gavrilko—21^st place—7-16