MINNEAPOLIS, MN—NJIT freshman men's fencer David Kong earned a 16-place finish at the US National Championships on April 11, 2014.
 
Kong, a 6-foot-1 freshman from Rutherford, NJ, whose weapon is the foil, was seeded 28^th out of the pools and received a bye in the first round.  He is currently ranked 24^th in the nation and 14^th under 20.
 
In his first direct elimination bout he defeated #5 seed Harrison Bergman from Columbia University 15-13, and then lost 11-15 to Thomas Dudey of Gulf Coast.
 
Kong went 2-3 in pools play, winning his first two bouts and dropping the final three.  Kong won 5-4 over Julian Knodt (#56 in the nation) of Northern CA and followed up with a 5-0 win over Shuya Ishizuka (bronze medalist in the 2013 Division 1-A National Championship) of Metro NYC.
 
In his final three bouts, Kong dropped a 5-4 decision to Jerry Chang (#9 in the nation, #5 under 20) of Central CA, 5-2 to Barrett Weiss (#22 in the nation) of New England and 5-2 Stephen Mageras (#50 in the nation) of Connecticut.