Irish Finish Third At 2012 NCAA Championship
March 25, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The University of Notre Dame fencing team finished third at the 2012 NCAA Championship, claiming 30 points Sunday at the French Field House to end with 160 total points at the four-day event. It marks the fifth straight year that the Irish have earned a top-three finish at the Championship. Ohio State never trailed at the 2012 NCAAs, pulling away for a 21-point victory with 182 total points. Princeton held on to second place with 161 points, while St. John's finished fourth (158) and Penn State ended fifth (151). The only two other teams to record more than 100 points were Harvard in sixth place (136) and Penn in seventh (124). Enzo Castellani (Keller, Texas) continued to be the story of the tournament on the men's side for the Irish, finishing round robin play in fourth place with a record of 16-7 with a +32 indicator. With the top-four finish, Castellani advanced into the individual semifinals against top-seeded Zain Shaito of Ohio State. The Irish senior was unable to pull the upset, falling to Shaito, 15-8, to earn a share of third place and first-team All-America recognition. Reggie Bentley (Little Rock, Ark.), meanwhile, finished impressively Sunday after putting together a 7-2 day. The Irish senior missed out on the top four by six touches, finishing with an identical 16-7 record of Castellani but only amassing a +26 indicator. With his fifth-place finish, Bentley became a second-team All-American. Shaito ended up claiming the foil gold medal, knocking off Stanford's Turner Caldwell in the title bout by a score of 15-11. James Kaull (Washington, D.C.) concluded his third NCAA Championship with his best finish to-date, posting a 14-9 record and a +12 indicator in epee. In addition to having defeated Princeton's Jonathan Yergler Saturday, Kaull earned a 5-3 victory over Ohio State's Marco Canevari, who finished as the top seed with an overall record of 19-4. After earning third-team All-America distinction as a freshman, Kaull became a second-team All-American this season with his seventh-place finish. Michael Rossi (White Plains, N.Y.) rebounded after a 2-12 opening day to go 5-4 Sunday. Overall, Rossi placed 23rd with a 7-16 record with a -24 indicator. He earned his biggest win of the tournament with a 5-2 triumph over Harvard's Peregrine Badger, who finished sixth overall with 14 wins. After finishing runner-up last year, Yergler claimed the NCAA gold in epee with a victory over Columbia's Alen Hadzic in the title bout, 15-8. In sabre, Kevin Hassett (Beaverton, Ore.) continued to pace the Irish entrants. The sophomore finished his day with a 6-3 record to conclude the tournament in seventh place with a 14-9 mark with a +13 indicator. The highlight win for Hassett was a 5-1 triumph over Princeton's Philip Dershwitz, who concluded the Championship in third place with 16 total wins. Hassett became a second-team All-American with his top-eight finish. Jason Choy (Basking Ridge, N.J.) posted a record of 4-5 on his second day to end in 14th place with an overall record of 11-12. The Irish senior's most impressive victory came against Columbia's William Spear, as he defeated the fifth-place finisher by a count of 5-4. Penn State's Aleksander Ochocki, 2009 gold medalist, earned his second career NCAA title in sabre after defeating Harvard's Valentin Staller in the final bout, 15-11. 2012 NCAA Championship - Final Standings: 1 Ohio State University 182 2 Princeton University 161 3 NOTRE DAME 160 4 St. John's University 158 5 Pennsylvania State University 151 6 Harvard University 136 7 Pennsylvania, University of 124 8 Columbia/Barnard 97 9 Duke University 67 10 Stanford University 62 11 Northwestern University 52 12 Yale University 50 13 Brown University 44 14 Temple University 40 15 U.S. Air Force Academy 26 16 Sacred Heart University 23 17 Wayne State University 19 18 Cornell University 18 19 Boston College 14 19 UNC, Chapel Hill 14 21 Vassar College 12 22 New York University 11 23 Brandeis University 7 24 M.I.T. 5 25 U.C. San Diego 1
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