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NCAA Championship
Anna Van Brummen defeated teammate Katharine Holmes 15-13 in the épée final.
Van Brummen Wins NCAA Épée Title as Team Finishes Fourth
March 26, 2017 | Men's Fencing, Women's Fencing
It's been an outstanding run for the Princeton fencing teams over the last seven years, and the Tigers added to it Sunday in Indianapolis.
Anna Van Brummen became Princeton's first NCAA women's épée champion, defeating senior classmate Katharine Holmes 15-13 in the final. That came after the nation's longest active streak of bringing home a team trophy from the NCAA championships continued into a seventh year as Princeton's teams combined for a fourth-place finish.
Notre Dame won its first team title since 2011, racking up 186 wins over the four days of competition to finish ahead of runner-up Ohio State at 161, third-place Columbia at 152 and the Tigers at 145.
Princeton advanced three women to the semifinals, with freshman saber Maia Chamberlain joining Holmes and Van Brummen.
Holmes, the top épée seed after going 20-3, won her semifinal 9-8 in an extra period against Ohio State's Eugenia Falqui and Van Brummen, the third seed after going 17-6, beat Notre Dame's Amanda Sirico 15-10 in the second épée semifinal. Chamberlain, who went 19-4 during the pool bouts, rallied from a 13-10 deficit to tie Penn State's Teodora Kakhiani in her semifinal at 13-13, but Kakhiani won 15-14 to advance.
The semifinal wins from Holmes and Van Brummen ensured Princeton would get an individual champion, but it also guaranteed a bittersweet victory no matter the outcome. It was the first time that teammates went head-to-head in a weapon final since 2014, when all three women's weapon titles had that happen as teammates from Harvard (saber), Notre Dame (foil) and Stanford épée battled for championships.
"There's nobody that I rather would have been in the final with," Holmes said. "We've trained and competed against each other for so long. This year, I know I couldn't have done what I've done this season without her. Coming into this tournament, all I wanted for us was to be in that final, and come what may."
The feeling was mutual with Van Brummen.
"It's really hard to compete against someone that you always train with and you're always cheering for, and then all of the sudden you have to change that energy to compete against them," Van Brummen said.
It was no easier for coach Zoltan Dudas, who avoided the competition floor during the bout.
"When teammates are fencing, I'm not even going close," Dudas said. "I was watching the bout with the bout committee a little bit. I will watch the bout, of course, later and we will learn from it. I'm not getting involved when teammates are fencing."
Van Brummen joined saber Eliza Stone '13 and foil Eva Petschnigg as Princeton's NCAA individual women's fencing champions.
All five Princeton women's qualifiers earned All-America honors for finishing in the top 12, with Holmes becoming the second Princeton women's épée to finish as a four-time All-America along with fellow Olympian Susannah Scanlan '14. Senior foil Ashley Tsue finished eighth and sophomore saber Sage Palmedo finished 10th.
Princeton's finishes are below, and results for all teams are available here.
Women
Épée: Katharine Holmes (Sr.) – second, four-time All-America (2012, 2013, 2014, 2017)
Épée: Anna Van Brummen (Sr.) – first, two-time All-America (2015, 2017)
Foil: Ashley Tsue (Sr.) – eighth, three-time All-America (2015, 2016, 2017)
Saber: Maia Chamberlain (Fr.) – T-third, All-America (2017)
Saber: Sage Palmedo (So.) – 10th, All-America (2017)
Men
Épée: Wesley Johnson (So.) – T-third, All-America (2017)
Épée: Michael Popovici (So.) – eighth, All-America (2017)
Foil: Samuel Barmann (Fr.) – 19th
Foil: Thomas Dudey (Jr.) – 16th, two-time All-America (2015, 2016)
Saber: Edward Chin (Jr.) – 16th, two-time All-America (2015, 2016)
Saber: Peter Pak (Sr.) – 17th, three-time All-America (2014, 2015, 2016)
Anna Van Brummen became Princeton's first NCAA women's épée champion, defeating senior classmate Katharine Holmes 15-13 in the final. That came after the nation's longest active streak of bringing home a team trophy from the NCAA championships continued into a seventh year as Princeton's teams combined for a fourth-place finish.
Notre Dame won its first team title since 2011, racking up 186 wins over the four days of competition to finish ahead of runner-up Ohio State at 161, third-place Columbia at 152 and the Tigers at 145.
Princeton advanced three women to the semifinals, with freshman saber Maia Chamberlain joining Holmes and Van Brummen.
Holmes, the top épée seed after going 20-3, won her semifinal 9-8 in an extra period against Ohio State's Eugenia Falqui and Van Brummen, the third seed after going 17-6, beat Notre Dame's Amanda Sirico 15-10 in the second épée semifinal. Chamberlain, who went 19-4 during the pool bouts, rallied from a 13-10 deficit to tie Penn State's Teodora Kakhiani in her semifinal at 13-13, but Kakhiani won 15-14 to advance.
The semifinal wins from Holmes and Van Brummen ensured Princeton would get an individual champion, but it also guaranteed a bittersweet victory no matter the outcome. It was the first time that teammates went head-to-head in a weapon final since 2014, when all three women's weapon titles had that happen as teammates from Harvard (saber), Notre Dame (foil) and Stanford épée battled for championships.
"There's nobody that I rather would have been in the final with," Holmes said. "We've trained and competed against each other for so long. This year, I know I couldn't have done what I've done this season without her. Coming into this tournament, all I wanted for us was to be in that final, and come what may."
The feeling was mutual with Van Brummen.
"It's really hard to compete against someone that you always train with and you're always cheering for, and then all of the sudden you have to change that energy to compete against them," Van Brummen said.
It was no easier for coach Zoltan Dudas, who avoided the competition floor during the bout.
"When teammates are fencing, I'm not even going close," Dudas said. "I was watching the bout with the bout committee a little bit. I will watch the bout, of course, later and we will learn from it. I'm not getting involved when teammates are fencing."
Van Brummen joined saber Eliza Stone '13 and foil Eva Petschnigg as Princeton's NCAA individual women's fencing champions.
All five Princeton women's qualifiers earned All-America honors for finishing in the top 12, with Holmes becoming the second Princeton women's épée to finish as a four-time All-America along with fellow Olympian Susannah Scanlan '14. Senior foil Ashley Tsue finished eighth and sophomore saber Sage Palmedo finished 10th.
Princeton's finishes are below, and results for all teams are available here.
Women
Épée: Katharine Holmes (Sr.) – second, four-time All-America (2012, 2013, 2014, 2017)
Épée: Anna Van Brummen (Sr.) – first, two-time All-America (2015, 2017)
Foil: Ashley Tsue (Sr.) – eighth, three-time All-America (2015, 2016, 2017)
Saber: Maia Chamberlain (Fr.) – T-third, All-America (2017)
Saber: Sage Palmedo (So.) – 10th, All-America (2017)
Men
Épée: Wesley Johnson (So.) – T-third, All-America (2017)
Épée: Michael Popovici (So.) – eighth, All-America (2017)
Foil: Samuel Barmann (Fr.) – 19th
Foil: Thomas Dudey (Jr.) – 16th, two-time All-America (2015, 2016)
Saber: Edward Chin (Jr.) – 16th, two-time All-America (2015, 2016)
Saber: Peter Pak (Sr.) – 17th, three-time All-America (2014, 2015, 2016)
Players Mentioned
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