March 21, 2006

Houston, TX- The University of North Carolina fencing team competed this past weekend in the National Championship round in Houston finishing 19th in team competition.

Those UNC student athletes that participated included foil fencer Steve Piantadosi (24th), a sophomore from Reisterstown, MD., transfer sophomore Will Randolph (22nd), a sabre fencer from Shawnee Mission, KS., sabre fencer Bobby Ziechmann (21st), a freshman from Charlotte, sabre fencer Jennifer Kling (24th), a senior from Indianaplolis, Indiana, and epee fencer Mike Burkhart (21st) a junior transfer from Charlotte.

Harvard University finished first in team competition, followed by Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Columbia/Barnard.

Sabre fencer Adam Crompton of Ohio State, foil fencer Boaz Ellis, and epee fencer Benji Ungar were gold medalist winners in their respective weapons.

Gold medalist in individual women's competition included epee fencer Katarzyna Trzopek of Penn State, foil fencer Erzsebet Garay of St. John's and sabre fencer Mariel Zagunis of Notre Dame.

UNC fencing coach Ron Miller stated "that the best way I can describe the tournament is that the inexperience at previous NCAA championships showed for almost all of them. All the student athletes were attending their first tournament. It wasn't so much that they were nervous or overwhelmed, I simply think that they lacked the experience to maintain the correct amount of focus over two full days. None of them fenced exceptionally poorly, none of them fenced exceptionally well. If you look at the results you can see that their placements, generally speaking, were between probably 18th and 19th and 24th. But that's kind of weird because some of them had seven wins and some of them had two wins and yet some of them with two wins finished higher than the ones with seven. That's because of the differences in the fields in terms of how the things splits out once you actually get started in the tournament. So the number of bouts won does not necessarily correlate with the finish because it is relative to the field. I know that they were disappointed in themselves and a little frustrated at times because I think they just felt like they didn't perform up to their capabilities and that's true and there is no question about that. But at the same time I think their expectations now will probably be much better for the future because they know what the tournament is like, they know the type of pressure they will be facing, and the type of opponents, and everything else so it won't be so much of a shock to their system. The tournament was a great learning experience for all of them."

2006 NCAA Championships Results

MEN'S SABRE

1. Adam Crompton, Ohio State, Gold Medalist

2. Patrick Ghattas, Nortre Dame, Silver Medalist

3. Jason Rogers, Ohio State, Bronze Medalist

21. Robert Ziechmann, UNC

22. Will Randolph, UNC

MEN'S FOIL

1. Boaz Ellis, Ohio State, Gold Medalist

2. Andras Horanyi, Ohio State, Silver Medalist

3. Scott Sugimoto, Columbia, Bronze Medalist

24. Steve Piantadosi, UNC

MEN'S EPEE

1. Benji Ungar, Havard, Gold Medalist

2. Denis Tolkachev, Ohio State, Silver Medalist

3. Ben Solomon, Princeton, Bronze Medalist

21. Mike Burkhart, UNC

WOMEN'S SABRE

1. Mariel Zagunis, Notre Dame, Gold Medalist

2. Emily Jacobson, Columbia/Barnard, Silver Medalist

3. Emma Baratta, Columbia/Barnard, Bronze Medalist

24. Jennifer Kling, UNC

WOMEN'S FOIL

1. Erzsebet Garay, St. Johns, Gold Medalist

2. Jacqueline Leahy, Princeton, Silver Medalist

3. Emily Cross, Harvard, Bronze Medalist

WOMEN'S EPEE

1. Katarzyna Trzopek, Penn State, Gold Medalist

2. Anna Garina, Wayne State, Silver Medalist

3. Kaela Brendler, Ohio State, Bronze Medalist

FINAL TEAM STANDINGS

1. Harvard University

2. Pennsylvania State University

3. Ohio State University

4. Notre Dame

5. Columbia/Barnard

6. St. John's University

7. Stanford University

8. Princeton University

9. Pennsylvania,

10. Wayne State University

11.Duke University

Northwestern University

13. Rutgers University

14. New York University

15. U.S. Air Force Academy

16. Yale University

17. U.C. San Diego

18. Temple University

19. North Carolina

20. M.I.T.

21. Brandeis University

22. Cornell University

23. Cal State, Fullerton

Detroit Mercy

25.Vassar College

26.Boston College

Johns Hopkins University

Tufts University

29. Brown University |