Chamberlain, Nixon Win NCAA Titles as Four Tigers Earn All-America

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For the first time in Princeton fencing history, two Tigers have claimed NCAA individual titles in the same year.

Sophomores Kasia Nixon, an épée, and Maia Chamberlain, a saber, each finished in the top four of her weapon after 23 pool bouts and won two 15-touch bouts to become the Princeton women's program's fourth and fifth NCAA individual champions, joining Eva Petschnigg (2000, foil), Eliza Stone '13 (2013, saber) and Anna Van Brummen '17 (2017, épée). Never before, though, for the men's or women's programs have two individual titles come in the same year.

"I think that's really special," Chamberlain said. "That's very cool."

Nixon's and Van Brummen's back-to-back NCAA épée titles are the first back-to-backs for the same school since Penn State won consecutive titles in 2009 and 2010. It's the second straight year that a women's program has won two of the three weapon titles, with Notre Dame doing so in foil and saber in 2017. The two consecutive Tiger épée champs were teammates last season.

"(I learned from Van Brummen that) you can't let anything bring you down, a bad touch or a bad call," Nixon said. "You just have to kind of let it stay in the past and focus on your next bout, because there's so many bouts. I'm definitely glad to get the title (after) her and maintain that Princeton tradition. We have a really strong fencing team and I'm glad that we were able to prove that again."

Nixon was sixth entering the final two rounds of pool bouts Friday, needing to move up at least to fourth in order to have a chance at the NCAA title.

"I knew that there were a lot of girls ahead of me because they did really well on the first day and I didn't do that well, and I had to definitely bring a stronger fight the second day than I did the first," Nixon said. "I knew I had a good chance of making the top four, so when that happened, I knew that there was going to be a fight, but, 15-touch bouts, I definitely feel more comfortable with. I knew it was possible."

Nixon was up first in the individual semifinal bouts, and she got past Harvard's Cindy Gao 15-7 to advance to face St. John's' Veronika Zuikova in the final. Later, Chamberlain outlasted Notre Dame's Francesca Russo 15-12 to cap the semifinal round. Nixon was then up again in the épée final, defeating Zuikova 15-13 to win her title, and two bouts later, Chamberlain beat Penn State's Zara Moss 15-11 to make it two titles for Princeton.

Nixon's win was a help for Chamberlain, who fell in a 15-14 bout in the semifinals as a freshman a year ago.

"I feel like that (Nixon) won first, it was more motivation for me to do the same," Chamberlain said. "If she could do it, I could do it too."

Nixon had the chance to be a spectator and a supporter for Chamberlain once her title was clinched.

"It was, I would say, a lot more nerve-wracking than actually fencing," Nixon said of watching Chamberlain. "It was really exhilarating, cheering for her, fighting for her, because I knew what it felt like to be out there and I wanted to win for her and with her and everything. It was really great to watch that. I got to experience both sides, on the strip and off the strip, what it felt like. I'm really glad that Maia was able to prove herself too. I know she really wanted it. She was a strong competitor the whole two days."

All four Princeton women's fencers at the NCAA finals earned All-America honors by finishing in the top 12 of their weapons, with Nixon doing so in her first NCAA appearance, Chamberlain earning the honor for the second time in as many tries, senior saber Allison Lee doing so for the first time since her rookie year, and freshman épée Tatijana Stewart earning the recognition on her first try. Lee finished 10th in her weapon while Stewart finished seventh in hers.

Princeton stands fifth as a team after the women's competition with 60 wins, a number unaffected by the individual championship competitions. Notre Dame leads with 95 wins, followed by Penn State at 89, Columbia at 86 and Ohio State at 76. Complete results can be found here.

The men's competition will run Saturday and Sunday, with junior épée Wesley Johnson, sophomore foil Samuel Barmann, freshman foil Julian Knodt, senior saber Edward Chin and freshman saber Daniel Kwak competing for Princeton. Fencing will begin at 9 a.m. for foil, 11 a.m. for épée and 1:30 p.m. for saber for Saturday's first three of five rounds of pool bouts. Sunday will see the completion of the pool bouts as well as the individual title competitions, with the title bouts streamed on ESPN3.

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