March 16, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Notre Dame entered the fourth and final day of the 2008 NCAA Fencing Championships trailing Ohio State by two wins, yet the Irish could not make up the difference and concluded the event as the runner-up behind the national champion Buckeyes. Ohio State finished with 185 victories, while Notre Dame had 176.
Sunday was the second day of the men’s competition on the Ohio State University campus. Five Notre Dame men copped All-America honors, which gave the Irish a total of 11 All-Americans after all six qualified women earned that distinction during their two days of bouts on Thursday and Friday.
This marked Notre Dame’s sixth second-place finish in NCAA competition since 1996 and its best result since winning the title in 2005. The Fighting Irish placed fourth in the past two championships.
In the men’s epee on Sunday, Wayne State’s Slava Zingerman won gold, while Arthur Urman from Penn State and Graham Wicas from Princeton took home the silver and bronze, respectively. St. John’s Stanley Vaksman finished fourth. Irish senior Greg Howard placed eighth to earn second-team All-America honors for the second straight season. Howard also placed eighth at last year’s NCAA Championships. His junior teammate Karol Kostka was right behind in ninth to claim third-team accolades for the second consecutive campaign. Kostka finished 11th last year.
Ohio State’s Andras Horanyi defeated Penn’s Ronald Berkowsky to claim gold in men’s foil. Kurt Getz from Columbia was the bronze-medal winner and Nicholas Chinman from Penn State finished fourth. Notre Dame freshman Steve Kubik garnered second-team All-America honors by placing eighth. Fellow Irish rookie Zach Schirtz copped third-team distinction with his 11th-place finish.
The men’s saber competition featured Columbia’s Jeff Spear winning the gold by taking down Ohio State’s Mike Momtselidze. Daniel Bak from Penn State claimed the bronze, while Luther Clement from St. John’s finished fourth. Fighting Irish freshman Barron Nydam earned second-team All-America honors with his sixth-place result. Notre Dame’s Bill Thanhouser, a junior, finished 13th.
Full results of the 2008 NCAA Fencing Championships can be found at www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com, www.ncaa.com and at www.prisedefer.com.
NCAA Fencing ChampionshipsColumbus, Ohio • March 13-16, 2008Final Team Standings
Top-five teams (of 27)1. Ohio State, 1852. Notre Dame, 1763. Columbia/Barnard, 1584. Penn State, 1555. St. John's 145
Notre Dame Men's QualifiersEpee8. Greg Howard, 13-10 (+11 indicator) (Second-Team All-American)9. Karol Kostka, 13-10 (+9 indicator) (Third-Team All-American)
Foil8. Steve Kubik, 13-10 (Second-Team All-American)11. Zach Schirtz, 12-11 (Third-Team All-American)
Saber6. Barron Nydam, 16-7 (Second-Team All-American)13. Bill Thanhouser, 11-12
-- ND --