The NCAA Fencing Championships in Cleveland got underway on Thursday, with the Irish men and women both ranked #1 in the country. While the men’s and women’s teams are ranked separately, the national championship rankings are a combined effort.

On Thursday and Friday, the men ended their portion of the competition in 3rd place and with an individual national champion and an individual runner-up.

MEN’S RESULTS

Epee

11.Ariel Simmons 12-11 (+4)
21.Stephen Ewart 9-14 (-15)

Foil

1.Nick Itkin 19-4 (+57)
2.Axel Kiefer 19-4 (+47)

Sabre

15.Alessandro Contreras 10-13 (-16)
20.Arsenii Panteleev 9-14 (-30)

OVERALL STANDINGS

1. Columbia (90)
2. Penn State (84)
3. Notre Dame (78)
4. Harvard (72)
5. Ohio State (69)

CHAMPION

It was Domer vs Domer in the foil competition with Nick Itkin vs Axel Kiefer with Itkin coming out on top and claiming a back-to-back national championship.

WOMEN UP NEXT

The women’s competition will begin Saturday morning. The competition order is as follows:

• Epee @ 9:00 AM Rounds 1-3
• Foil @ 11:00 AM Rounds 1-3
• Sabre @ 1:00 PM Rounds 1-3

On Sunday, the championships will wrap up as follows:

• Foil, Epee and Sabre Rounds 4-5 1:30 p.m.
• Semifinal and Championship bouts in order of epee, foil, sabre

LOOKING FOR A COMEBACK

The Irish are down 12 points to Columbia (which was ranked #2 in both men’s and women’s categories heading into the tournament). Perhaps the women can still pull this off with a dominating effort.

If the Irish do win a national championship, it would be the first time in Notre Dame athletic history that a program has had a three-peat championship.

The event won’t be televised on Saturday, but it will be at 1:00 on Sunday on ESPN 3.

You can follow the event on Twitter by following the team account @NDFencing.

GO IRISH!