Princeton University Athletics
Princeton University
NCAA Championships
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Graham Wicas Wins Bronze Medal in Epee at NCAA Championships
March 16, 2008 | Men's Fencing
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Princeton freshman Graham Wicas captured a bronze medal in epee at the NCAA fencing championships Sunday at Ohio State, marking the highest finish for a Princeton fencer since 2006.
In the round-robin with the other 23 national epee qualifiers, Wicas won 16 bouts and earned the top seed in a four-person bracket that would decide the medalists. Penn State's Arthur Urman, however, topped Wicas 15-11 in a 15-touch bout to send the Tiger rookie to a third-place match. Wicas claimed the bronze with a 15-8 win over Stanley Vaksman of St. Johns, while Urman fell to Wayne State's Slava Zingerman in the gold-medal bout.
Wicas was one of two Princeton men, along with seventh-place finisher senior Tommi Hurme, to claim All-America honors. The first All-America honor for both men, it came in Hurme's third trip to the national meet. Hurme finished 15th as a sophomore and 13th last year. Hurme went 14-9 in his bouts in Columbus while freshman sabreist John Stogin won eight bouts to finish 20th and sophomore foilist Clayton Flanders won three bouts to place 24th.
Wicas' finish matches that of Ben Solomon '06 in his senior season, the same year that women's foilist Jacqueline Leahy '06 finished second for Princeton's top overall finish that year.
As a team in the six-weapon men's/women's standings, Princeton matched last year's finish by taking 10th of 24 schools to have a fencer record a win. Princeton had 59 total individual wins as Ohio State won the meet with 185 victories.