BALTIMORE, MD – NJIT men's fencers Simon Rizell and Thomas Slawinski placed first in their respective weapons and the Highlanders placed second at the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA) championships held at Johns Hopkins on Sunday.

The Highlanders placed second behind Johns Hopkins, 300-257, and Haverford followed up in third with 250 points.

NJIT won second place in every team event -- epee, saber and foil.

Assistant coach Jason Henderson won the 2017 MACFA Coach of the Year award and is the first assistant coach to win the honor.
  Simon Rizell went undefeated at the championships on the foil strip, going 14-0 in A strip pool play earning the first seed position into the elimination round. With wins over Rutgers and Yeshiva junior Rizell beat teammate Nicholas Concepcion in the semifinals, before winning against Cornell in the finals.

Sophomore Concepcion came into the elimination round with a 13-1 record and seeded fifth, before falling to Rizell in the semifinals for a third place finish in men's foil.
  In men's saber, Thomas Slawinski grabbed first place, finishing 10-4 in the A strip pool play and was seeded fourth going into elimination rounds. Slawinski collected wins over Army, Hunter and then Haverford in the final round.

Cole Degeorges went 12-2 in B strip pool play and lost to Navy in the first round of elimination placing tenth overall in men's saber.
 
Placing third on the men's epee strip was Eduardo Ezcurra. Junior Ezcura went 11-3 in A strip pool play and was seeded first going into the elimination round, and lost to Jimmy Ferraiolo of Hunter in the semifinals.

Also in men's epee, Ryan Hrapsky placed eleventh going 11-3 on the B strip, before falling to Haverford's Eric Gardner in the first round.

Next the Highlanders will compete in the NCAA Regionals at Lafayette on March 11.  Qualifying participants will be announced on Monday, March 6.