Final Results/Standings

BOSTON—The NJIT fencing team placed 10^th at the 2016 NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championships hosted by Brandeis University.

The field of 144 competitors and 26 teams, included individual events in each of the six weapons (men's epee, men's foil, men's sabre, women's epee, women's foil and women's sabre).

Here is a closer look at the NJIT individual competitors—

Simon Rizell, from Gothenburg, Sweden, became NJIT's newest All-American with a tenth-place finish in the men's foil with a 13-10 record.  Rizell defeated second-place Nobuo Bravo from Penn State, 5-3, and Axel Kiefer from Norte Dame, 5-3, who finished third.

Rizell was the top finisher for the NJIT men at the 2016 NCAA Regionals.  Rizell placed second in the men's foil competition after, receiving a bye in the first round and went 4-1 in the second and third rounds.  Rizell finished with a 9-2 mark in the fourth and final round, good for second place.

He went undefeated against eight schools this season, including NYU, Johns Hopkins, Sacred Heart, Vassar, MIT, and Haverford.  Rizell also went undefeated against 14 teams in the team round and then continued to win the event. Rizell and teammate
Puccio were the only two fencers to go undefeated during the entire MACFA conference championships. 

Rizell guided the NJIT foil squad on the A-strip to become the 2016 MACFA Foil Champions and captured the individual event title.  Rizell placed 18th at the NCAA National Championships last season.

Henrique Marques, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, finished with an 11-12 overall mark, finishing 17^th on the men's foil strip.  Marques defeated Andras Nemeth of St. John's, 5-3, and topped Virgile Collineau of Norte Dame, the 2011 French Junior National Champion, 5-1.

He placed 23rd in the 2015 Junior World Championships (out of 113 participants in his event).

Marques, currently ranked #2 on the Brazilian Olympic team, secured his qualifications for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

Eduardo Ezcurra, from Las Rozas, Madrid, placed 16^th in men's epee, combining for a 10-13 overall record.

Ezcurra defeated third-place Lewis Weiss of Ohio State, 5-3, a three-time Junior Olympic champion and topped Zsombor Garzo of Penn, 5-4, the 2011 Hungarian Junior National Champion.

He placed seventh at the Regionals on the men's epee strip and led the NJIT epee squad on the A-strip to become the 2015 MACFA Epee Champions and captured the individual epee title at the 2016 MACFA conference championships.  Last season,

Ezcurra placed 14th at the 2015 NCAA National Championships.

Freshman Greg Puccio, from Warren, NJ, placed 23^rd in the men's sabre event, recording a 4-19 overall mark.  Puccio defeated Jonah Shainberg of Notre Dame, 5-2, and picked up a victory against Edward Chin of Princeton, 5-4, the 2014 Junior US National Champion.

This season, he led the NJIT sabre squad at the NCAA Regionals, placing seventh. He went undefeated against nine schools including: #1 Columbia, Boston College, Brandeis and Haverford. 

During the MACFA championships, he was undefeated against 14 schools in the team round and continued his win streak during the individual rounds to become the individual sabre conference champion. Puccio led the NJIT sabre squad on the A-strip to become the 2016 MACFA Sabre Champions.

Julia Garcia, from Madrid, Spain,  finished 19^th in women's epee competition at the championships.  She defeated Jessica O'Neil-Lyublinsku of Penn State, 5-3 and Emma Von Dadelszen, a double gold medalist at the Canada games in 2013, 5-4.  Garcia edged 2015 All-American Veronika Zuikova of St. John's, 5-4.

This season, Garcia placed first in the women's epee competition at the 2016 NCAA Regionals, receiving a bye in the first round and went 5-0 in the second.  She tallied a 3-2 mark and 8-2 overall record in the final round, giving the sophomore a first-place finish.

At the FDU Invitational, Garcia recorded a 13-4, record while posting an impressive14-3 mark at the DeCuccio Duals hosted by Norte Dame (January 16).  She guided the Highlander epee squad to wins over Haverford (5-4), MIT (6-3) Stevens (5-4) and Brown (6-3).  The sophomore went undefeated against MIT and Brown while going 2-1 against Brandeis and Boston College.

Jule Shigihara, from Bonn, Germany,  took 16th at the championships on the foil strip.  Shigihara topped Liana Semel of Harvard, 5-3, a junior olympic silver medalist and team gold medalist in 2014.  She also defeated two-time All-American fencer from Italy, Irene Spezzanmonte of St. John's, 5-2.

This season, she captured the Regional Open Circuit (ROC) Division 1A title, becoming the second NJIT athlete to win at a Regional Open Circuit.  She finished with a 15-3 overall at the Eric Sollee Invitational, leading the foil team to a 6-3 victory over Haverford.  She defeated Haverford, MIT and Stevens 3-0, and Brandeis, Brown and Boston College 2-.

Shigihara was named to the CollegeFencing360.com Primetime Performers Honor Roll (January 22), for her performance at the DeCicco Duals hosted by Norte Dame on January 16.  She lost only one of her 16 bouts in the foil strip and recorded a 68-25 edge in total touches and her only loss came from All-American Zuzanna Sobczak from Wayne State.

Shigihara swept all her bouts against the top-ranked host Notre Dame, and yielded only two touches against both Lawrence and Detriot Mercy, with whom she went 3-0 against.