Eleven Fencers Earn Tickets to NCAA Championships

Eleven Tar Heels have been selected to compete in the 2021 NCAA Fencing Championships, set for March 25-28 in University Park, Pa.

Representing the Tar Heels will be:

Men's Epee – Reza Merchant, Henry Shugart
Women's Epee – Darby Haskel, Allegra Parker
Men's Foil – James Mulligan
Women's Foil – Tarleton Hunt, Aubrey Molloy
Men's Sabre – Alec Mulvaney, Beni Rabinowitz
Women's Sabre – Abigale Parker, Clara Somfelean

Only Rabinowitz has competed at NCAAs. He placed 13^th as a freshman and had qualified to compete in 2020, as had Mulligan, before the event was cancelled.

"I'm so proud of our whole team and how resilient everyone has been all season," UNC coach Matt Jednak said. "It has certainly been a unique year but the fact that so many of our fencers are now going to get the opportunity to compete at NCAA Championships makes all the challenges worthwhile. This event is the pinnacle of collegiate fencing, and I'm really excited to see how our team competes."

The field of 144 includes participants from 20 schools. Each program can qualify a maximum of 12 competitors – two per weapon per gender.

Action will take place at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center, where fencers will compete in a round-robin format of five-touch bouts. The top four finishers in each weapon advance to face off in 15-touch semifinal bouts. Winners there advance to the finals, which are also 15-touch bouts.

Team finishes are based on points earned by a school's student-athletes from both the men's and women's squads. Teams receive a point for each individual victory.

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University of North Carolina Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Darby Haskel

Tarleton Hunt

Reza Merchant

Aubrey Molloy

James Mulligan

Alec Mulvaney

Abigale Parker

Allegra Parker

Beni Rabinowitz

Henry Shugart

Clara Somfelean

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