Air Force Academy

The Academy fencers competed at UC San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 5. The men's team finished with 5 wins, while the women compiled a 4-1 team score. UC San Diego hosted the NCAA event that included teams from Northwestern, CalTech, Cal State Fullerton and Stanford.

Head coach Abdel Salem chalks up the team's results to hard training and good practice for a good start toward the NCAA tournaments and even better performances in the future.

The Air Force fencers knew going into the meet that they wanted to win and their overall performance proved they could achieve that goal. "We've worked hard to prepare for San Diego and it paid off, we defeated everyone in our region and look forward to continuing to keep it up throughout the rest of the season," C1C Ebony Cook said.

The men's epee squad was too tough for their opponents. Jason Stockdale went undefeated in all 15 bouts. The foil team improved over last year with the expertise of Nate Smith. Jackson Ranes moved from epee to foil which also gave added strength the squad. Stepping up to the plate, the foil squad secured the win against UC San Diego following the Air Force saber team's defeat, 2-7.

"We performed up to our full potential in our first NCAA tournament. We hope to continue doing well in our future competitions," C1C Marisa Romero.

In the women's events, the epee team of Charity Day, Eliza Enyart and Brynn Thoreson pushed ahead toward the team's four wins, only losing to Northwestern. Enyart was the core of the epee team, winning 14 of her 15 bouts. Day was the star of the tournament with her surprising performance and display of great improvement after walking on to the team last year.

"We did what we went to San Diego to do--WIN! We matched up against competing teams and showed that we were the best," C1C Pappy Oboho said. "We will continue to do the same. All the training and practice came through and proved very useful."