Three Tar Heels Qualify For NCAA Championships

Three Tar Heel fencers have qualified for the NCAA Championship field, giving UNC its largest representation since 2013, when four from Carolina qualified. Juniors Wei Chee Chen (womebn's foil), junior Jackie Litynski (women's sabre) and freshman Beni Rabinowitz (men's sabre) will compete in Cleveland, Ohio, March 21-24.

All three are making their first NCAA Championship appearances.

It's the 52^nd consecutive year UNC has had at least one fencer in the field, which this year includes 144 fencers from a total of 26 institutions.

Chen is a junior from Birmingham, Ala., and is majoring in business administration. She's the first UNC foil fencer to qualify for the NCAA field since Joe Alter in 2013 and the first to compete in women's foil since Katie Williamson in 2011.

Litynski is a junior from Niskayuna, N.Y. She is majoring in public policy and environmental studies and was the 2018 ACC Women's Sabre Fencer of the Year. Her older sister, Gillian, was a four-time NCAA qualifier as a Tar Heel, with a career-best third-place finish in 2013.

The last Tar Heel in the women's sabre field was Meredith Bozentka in 2017.

Rabinowitz is a freshman from Charlotte and is majoring in economics. He's the first Tar Heel men's fencer to reach the NCAA field since 2016, when Matthew Garrelick competed in men's sabre.

All three qualifiers had outstanding performances at last weekend's NCAA Regionals and thus were expecting Tuesday's news. Rabinowitz placed third in men's sabre, Litynski was fifth in women's sabre and Chen placed ninth in women's foil.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Bozentka

Wei Chee Chen

Matthew Garrelick

Jackie Litynski

Beni Rabinowitz

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