INDIANAPOLIS, IN. – For the ninth straight year, the University of Notre Dame fencing program will send the maximum allotted 12 fencers to the NCAA Championships. The Irish will compete for the title March 23-26 at Cameron Indoor Stadium on the Duke campus in Durham, North Carolina.
The Irish squad will have a mix of youth and experience next weekend at the Castellan Family Fencing Center. Seven of the selections will be making a repeat appearance at NCAAs this season, while five people have been selected for the first time.
In women’s sabre, Kara Linder (Gr, Chandler, Ariz.) earned her fifth selection to the Championships while Atara Greenbaum (Jr., Boca Raton, Fla.) is making her third appearance. Women’s foil will be represented by fourth-time participant Amita Berthier (Sr., Singapore) and Rebeca Candescu (So., Metuchen, N.J.) in her first appearance. Kaylin Hsieh (Jr., Hong Kong) is making her third NCAA appearance while teammate Eszter Muhari (Fr., Budapest, Hungary) will be making her NCAA debut.
On the men’s side, Maruan Osman-Touson (Fr., Budapest, Hungary) and Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle (Fr., Budapest, Hungary) will both represent the Irish in epee for the first time. In foil, Marcello Olivares (Sr., Cooper City, Fla.) and Chase Emmer (Fr., Morristown, N.J.) will represent the Irish. This will be Emmer’s first appearance and Olivares’s third appearance. Rounding out the men’s entry in sabre are Jared Smith (Gr., Ladera Ranch, Calif.) for his fourth straight selection and Luke Linder (Jr. Chandler, Ariz.), making his third appearance.
The National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships include individual events in each of the six weapons, and fencers will compete in a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top-four finishers in each weapon will fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with the winners fencing to determine first and second places, and the non-advancing fencers being awarded a tie for third place.
Place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes during the round-robin portion of the Championships.
A live feed of semifinal and final bouts will be available at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN+. Semifinals and finals, along with other championship highlights, will air on ESPNU at 2 p.m. Eastern time, April 6.
2023 Selections…
Eszter Muhari, Women’s Epee
Kaylin Hsieh, Women’s Epee
Rebeca Candescu, Women’s Foil
Amita Berthier, Women’s Foil
Kara Linder, Women’s Sabre
Atara Greenbaum, Women’s Sabre
Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, Men’s Epee
Mauran Osman-Touson, Men’s Epee
Marcello Olivares, Men’s Foil
Chase Emmer, Men’s Foil
Luke Linder, Men’s Sabre
Jared Smith, Men’s Sabre
—ND—