University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Coach Nikki Franke Classic
Men’s Fencing Notches Two Top-Four Finishes In Philadelphia
October 26, 2025 | Fencing
PHILADELPHIA - The men's fencing team closed out the preseason with a great showing at the final day of the Coach Nikki Franke Classic.
Sophomore foilist Peter Bruk has continued to build on his NCAA Championship appearance as a freshman with his silver medalist performance. Elden Wood also showed out with a third-place finish in sabre.
Men's Foil Recap:
Men's foil showed the depth of the squad as they had two fencers advance to the round of eight, which was tied with Penn and Boston College for the most for any school.
Peter Bruk advanced to the finals after taking down the No. 1 Eric Li from Boston College 15-3. He scored multiple runs of at least three unanswered points. Bruk fell in the finals to Elijah Onik from BC, who was an NCAA Championship qualifier last year.
Nick Baumstein, the second fencer in the round, wrapped up his time with a close bout against Conrad Lo from Penn to finish in sixth. Christian Porras was another example of this foil squad's talent, finishing in the top ten. Porras took down a fencer from Haverford and teammate Aiden Song before falling to a freshman from Sacred Heart.
Freshman Ivan Radslov posted a great upset as he took down Jeffery Zhai, the No. 3-seeded fencer from NYU, 15-14 before facing off against fellow Tar Heel Baustimen.
Men's Sabre Recap:
Men's sabre posted two top ten finishes as a squad. Elden Wood led the sabre group. Wood won two straight bouts against fencers from Rowan and NYU before he matched up against Connor Woodward to get to the round of eight, before beating Zachary Shoman from Duke. Wood left everything on the strip against the eventual champion from Wagner, Flavio Vinci.
Nicky Wind matched up against his teammate, Ari Etin in the first round of DEs and took him down to advance to take on Simon Kushkov, an All-America selection from Penn. Wind battled against the All-America and came out victorious 15-14 as he wrapped up the day in 14th.
Men's Epee Recap:
Maxmio Zafft led the men's epee team. Zafft had a phenomenal start to the competition, tying for the number one seed after he went undefeated (9-0) in the pool portion. Zafft took down his round of 64 competition 15-4, advancing to take on a sophomore from Duke. Zafft bested Giulio Pech by five before finishing in ninth.
Sunday's Results
Men's Epee
9. Maximo Zafft
22. Brayden Gyure
26. Boris Muga
T-29. Sebastian Glennon
T-29. Logan Gatza
35. Shekar Jayendra
47. Jacob Rosenberg
Men's Foil
2. Peter Bruk
14. Ivan Radoslavov
28. Aiden Song
T-42 Yanni Tsimiklis
47. Connor Williams
Men's Sabre
4. Elden Wood
9. Vasko Atanassov
13. Nicky Wind
15. Connor Woodward
17. John Lin
49. Ari Etin
Players Mentioned
