Tar Heel Fencers Set for NCAA Championships

The 2019 NCAA Fencing Championships kick off on Thursday with three Tar Heels in the mix. Juniors Wei Chee Chen and Jackie Litynski and freshman Beni Rabinowitz are part of the 144-fencer field, which includes fencers from 26 schools.

Men's competition is first, on Thursday and Friday. Rabinowitz will compete in sabre starting at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday and continuing on Friday at 9 a.m.

The women compete on Saturday and Sunday. Chen will compete in the foil field starting on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Litynski begins competition in Sabre at 1:30 p.m., with both continuing at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

All action will take place at the Wolstein Center on the Cleveland State University campus. For live results, click here.

The semifinals and finals will be streamed live on ESPN3 or the WatchESPN app beginning at 1 p.m. on Friday for the men and at 1 p.m. on Sunday for the women.

This is the 52^nd consecutive year UNC has had at least one fencer in the field. With three Tar Heels qualifying, Carolina has its greatest representation since 2013, when four fencers reached the championships. Since then, one or two Tar Heels have made the field each year.

Chen is a junior from Birmingham, Ala., and is majoring in business administration. She's the first UNC foil fencer to qualify for the NCAA field since Joe Alter in 2013 and the first to compete in women's foil since Katie Williamson in 2011.

Litynski is a junior from Niskayuna, N.Y. She is majoring in public policy and environmental studies and was the 2018 ACC Women's Sabre Fencer of the Year. Her older sister, Gillian, was a four-time NCAA qualifier as a Tar Heel, with a career-best third-place finish in 2013. The last Tar Heel in the women's sabre field was Meredith Bozentka in 2017.

Rabinowitz is a freshman from Charlotte and is majoring in economics. He's the first Tar Heel men's fencer to reach the NCAA field since 2016, when Matthew Garrelick competed in men's sabre.

All are making their first appearances in the NCAA Championships.

The final NCAA team result, which includes men's and women's competition, combines the results of all of a school's competitors. A team is awarded one point for each victory by one of its fencers.

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Meredith Bozentka

Wei Chee Chen

Matthew Garrelick

Jackie Litynski

Beni Rabinowitz

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