Five Fencers Punch Tickets To National Championships

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Carolina fencing qualified five fencers for the national championships, which is the most since 2008. **
The NC women's fencing championships are from Thursday, March 19, to Friday, March 20, while the NC men's fencing championships are from Saturday, March 21, to Sunday, March 22. The University of Notre Dame will host the championships at the Joyce Center in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Qualification:
The regional championships were one way to qualify for the NCAA Championships. NCAA qualification is based on a formula that weighs regional performance at 60% and regular-season results at 40%.
Regional champions in each weapon earn automatic bids, while the remaining spots are based on performance and regional standings.

Schedule:

NC women's fencing championships
- Thursday, March 19
  - 9 a.m. | Women's épée, rounds 1-3
  - 11 a.m. | Women's foil, rounds 1-3
  - 1:30 p.m. | Women's sabre, rounds 1-3
- Friday, March 20 — ESPN+
  - 9 a.m. | Women's foil, rounds 4-5
  - 9 a.m. | Women's épée, rounds 4-5
  - 9 a.m. | Women's sabre, rounds 4-5
  - 1 p.m. | Women's championship bouts (in the order of épée, foil and sabre)

NC men's fencing championships
- Saturday, March 21
  - 9 a.m. | Men's épée, rounds 1-3
  - 11 a.m. | Men's foil, rounds 1-3
  - 1 p.m. | Men's sabre, rounds 1-3
- Sunday, March 22 — ESPN+
  - 9 a.m. | Men's foil, rounds 4-5
  - 9 a.m. | Men's épée, rounds 4-5
  - 9 a.m. | Men's sabre, rounds 4-5
  - 1:30 p.m | Men's championship bouts, (in the order of épée, foil and sabre)

All times listed in Eastern Standard
Format:
Fencers will compete in a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. After the round robin, the top four finishers in each weapon will fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with winners fencing to determine first and second places, and non-advancing fencers 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 for each victory by its student-athletes during round-robin competition.

For the first time in NCAA history, there will be a separate national championship for each gender.
Qualifiers:

Men's Foil
Peter Bruk [Second Selection]
- Best men's foilist regional finish since at least 2011*
- Bruk was tied with Joseph Alter's fifth-place finish in 2013 for the best regional before improving to second and now has the best finish.
- Back-to-back selections

Men's Epee
Youssef Shamel [First Selection]
- First Regional champion since at least 2011*
(The previous best finish by a men's epee fencer was 8th in 2022 by Henry Shugart.)
- Only freshman to be crowned a Mid-Atlantic/South Regional champion
- Second straight men's epee qualifier

Women's Epee
Mariasole Capellua [First Selection]
- First women's epee qualifier since Justine DeGrasse in 2018*

Men's Sabre
Elden Wood [Third Selection]
- Coming off the best regional finish in his career, as he finished in fourth

Women's Sabre
Dagny Johnson [First Selection]
- Fourth straight year that Carolina has sent a women's sabre fencer to NCAAs

*NCAA record do not extend beyond 2011 for regionals and 2000 for NCAA Championships
** The 2021 NCAA regionals were canceled which changed the qualifying formant

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Players Mentioned

Peter Bruk

Mariasole Capellua

Dagny Johnson

Youssef Shamel

Elden Wood

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University of North Carolina Athletics