SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Brandeis University first-year sabre fencer Tony Escueta (Grand Prairie, Texas/ Abeka Home School Academy) finished his first day of action at the 2022 NCAA National College Fencing Championships with three wins. The championship meet is being held at the University of Notre Dame.
Escueta finished the first day with a 3-12 record. His wins came in the first round against opponents from UPenn, St. John's, and Columbia. He also dropped a 5-4 decision to a second Columbia foe, while also suffering defeats to another St. John's fencer, and opponents from Johns Hopkins and Duke.
In the second round, Escueta dropped two matches each to foes from Ohio State and Harvard, though one of those losses was a 5-4 decision and two others were 5-3. In round three, Escueta fell to two opponents each from NYU and Stanford, with two more 5-3 losses.
In the overall standings at the end of his first day of action, Escueta was in 23rd place, though three other fencers also had three wins, and the four were separated by five touches total.
With the three points that Escueta added to the 14 scored by junior Maggie Shealy (Chapel Hill, N.C./East Chapel Hill) of the women's team on the first two days of action, Brandeis is in 17th place in the overall standings. The Judges are second among Division III schools, behind NYU (40 points, 11th place, 5 fencers) and third among New England schools, behind Harvard (137 points, 3rd, 12 fencers) and Yale (57 points, 9th, 7 fencers).
Escueta will meet two fencers each from UC-San Diego, Notre Dame, Penn State, and Princeton tomorrow in the fourth and fifth rounds at Notre Dame.