Men's fencers kick off 2013 NCAA championships

Men's fencers kick off 2013 NCAA championships

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- At the end of the first day of competition at the 2013 NCAA Fencing Championships hosted by the University of Incarnate Word, the Brandeis University Judges are in 18th place with eight bout victories. 

Sophomore Adam Mandel (White Plains, N.Y./Masters School) went 6-9 in his first-ever day of NCAA Championships action in the sabre. In the first round, Mandel defeated two fencers from the University of Pennsylvania, Evan Prochniak (5-3) and Michael Mills (5-4). He also downed Jackson Bryant-Comstock of North Carolina, 5-1. In the second round, he went 2-2, with all four matches coming down to the final touch with a 5-4 score. Mandel picked up wins over Hugh O'Cinneide of Yale and William Spear of Columbia, while falling to Andrew Kelly of rival NYU and Columbia's Michael Josephs. In the final round of the day, Mandel picked up just one win in four matches, but he turned in one of the bigger upsets of the day, defeating Adrian Bak of Penn State, 5-4. Bak suffered only one other loss on the afternoon and sat in second place. With his six wins, Mandel sat in 18th place at the end of Day 1. He was within range of finishing in the top 12 in the event forAll-America status, with 9th and 21st places separated by just two bout wins. 

Junior Julian Cardillo (Medford, Mass./St. Johns Prep), competing in his third NCAA championship, went 2-13 in the first three rounds of the foil. Cardillo defeated Eli Schenkel of St. John's University, 5-3, and Joseph Alter of North Carolina, 5-4. Cardillo also suffered three 5-4 defeats among his losses, against Ariel DeSmet of Notre Dame, Phillip Jameson of NYU and Andrew Holmes of Sacred Heart. Cardillo sits 24th out of 24 fencers at the end of Day 1 of competition with eight bouts remaining. 

The eight points scored by Mandel and Cardillo ties them with MIT and Cal-San Diego for 16th place out of 21 teams that have scored points so far, with a -45 indicator putting the Judges in 18th. Brandeis is two points behind NYU for the top Division III showing. Mandel and Cardillo will each have eight bouts tomorrow to try to improve that standing. Rookie Caroline Mattos (Providence, R.I./La Salle Acad.) will compete in the women's foil on Saturday and Sunday. 

Click here for complete results: http://www.escrimeresults.com/NCAA2013.html