The Hopkins men’s fencing team participated in the 2014 NCAA Mid-Atlantic South Regional on Saturday hosted by Lafayette College. Sophomore Mark Zimmermann led the team with a ninth place finish. Sophomore John Petrie also earned a top-15 finish, placing 12th. Zimmermann and Petrie both achieved their 150th career wins on the day.
Zimmermann did one place better this year at the Regional than he did last season as a rookie. He went 12-13 on the day to finish in ninth place in the Epee. He finished the season with 66-34 record and is 157-94 for his career. His 157 career wins are tied for 111th most in school history among Epeeists.
“Performing well in regionals is all about consistency and staying mentally strong,” Zimmermann said. “Fencing 25 bouts against some of the best fencers in the country is not only physically but also psychologically draining. By taking the event one opponent at a time really helps limit the mistakes.”
Petrie led the Blue Jays’ Foil squad with a 10-15 record for a 12th place finish. He finished the season with an 81-36 record and a 158-73 for his career. “Coming in 12th was an exciting finish, the final round was comprised of the strongest fencers in our mid-Atlantic division which included fencers from Penn State, U Penn, Princeton, Duke and other Division I schools,” Petrie said. “I was the only Division III athlete to make it that far in my weapon, which was a good way to end my sophomore season.”
Freshman Dylan Etzel took 29th place with a 1-3 record on the day, finishing the season at 15-30. “As a freshman, the season as a whole was quite exciting. Championships went really well since we won the men’s team title, and on Saturday we had NCAA Regionals where Mark and Jay both landed spots in the top 12,” Etzel said. “I think the season went great overall, and though we'll miss our seniors graduating, our team is young overall, and we can only go up from here.”
Sophomore Jonathan Mui, senior Evan Stafford and sophomore Glenn Balbus finished in 25th through 27th place, respectively. Mui went 2-2 on the day to finish at 33-18 for the season and 57-25 for his career. Stafford also went 2-2 to finish the season at 61-19 and his career at 206-123. He finished four spots better than his finish at the last two regional championships. Stafford finishes his career ranked 25th in school history for wins in any weapon and 10th among foilists. Balbus finished the day with a 1-3 record to move to 70-24 on the season and 126-57 for his career.
“MACFA Champs was a pretty exciting day. We knew our big challenge would be beating out Steven's, because we are very evenly matched in terms of skill level and had lost to them earlier in the season,” Balbus said. “We managed to beat them 5-4 and ended up winning the overall championship by two bouts, which was incredibly close. Our epee and sabre squads both had very good days, both of them came in second and our foil squad (myself included) had a decent day, coming in third for squads.”
Junior Aravind Menon led Hopkins with a 22nd place finish in the Sabre. He went 8-7 on the day and finished the season with a 64-23 record. He is now 176-83 for his career. His 176 wins rank 13th in school history in the Sabre.
“Our championship was really intense because we were losing to Stevens tech the whole day,” Menon said. “But with the help of back-to-back victories against Yeshiva and University of Virginia we were able to clinch the win. Though we didn’t win in any of the individual squads, I think the team will be more motivated and driven to sweep everything next year.”
Overall, the Hopkins men’s fencing team finished their season strongly, and have a lot to look forward to next year.
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