NJIT men’s fencer David Kong, from Rutherford, NJ has been selected as NJIT Male Athlete of the Week for his performance during the 2014 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional hosted by Lafayette on Saturday.
The freshman, whose weapon is the foil, finished in top six. Kong, who has quickly made his mark in college, qualified for nationals Saturday, becoming the first NJIT fencer in 10 years to advance since Philip Dolata in 2004.
Kong received a bye through the first round and notched a 2-3 record in the second and third rounds. In the final round, Kong combined for a 5-6 mark, placing sixth in the event. He is the only fencer from the MACFA conference to qualify for the NCAA National Championships this year.
Earlier, Kong participated in the Junior World Cup, held in Slovakia, going 4-2 in pool competition and placing 86th out of a field of 182 of the world's best young fencers. He finished third in a field of 172 fencers in the Under-20 men's foil event and placed 46th out of 173 fencers in the Division I (all ages) men's foil event at the Virginia Beach North American Cup and ranked 14th among Under-20 men's foil fencers based on his results from the North American Cup.
Kong captured the individual men's foil title at the 2014 MACFA Conference Championships, as the freshman lost just one bout during the team event to Findley, who he later defeated in the gold medal match to win the conference championship.
