Summer Nationals 2024, Day 6 Recap: Fencers Find the Right Formula for Gold

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the Vet Women’s Foil quartet of Jane Carter, Inga Cho, Margaret Kerr and Ann Marsh-Senic needed a team name, they went with what they know.

“I'm a chemist,” she says. “We needed a team name. And I came up with this, instead of actually doing the job I was supposed to be doing: grading lab reports.”

And thus, Team FeNCe — that’s Fe (iron), N (nitrogen), Ce (cerium) — was born.

A fitting name, it turned out, for a team with such great chemistry. The squad cruised to a gold medal, winning its three matches 45-12, 45-26 and 45-18. Theirs was one of 14 gold medals earned on the Fourth of July at the USA Fencing National Championships & July Challenge, also known as Summer Nationals.

“I think all of us are maybe a little sore after the individuals,” Carter says. “So the fact that we were able to hold it together and make it through the whole day, that’s a win.”

That’s a win for Rafael Suarez (Masters Fencing Club), who was crowned “the best of the best,” as he claimed gold and the national championship in Veteran-50 Men’s Foil.  

“I love gold,” he says. “I had to work until the end.” 

Fencing at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics (for Venezuela) through now, Suarez says, “I think it keeps you young. I am very proud to be a fencer at 50 years old, you know I am still making medals.” 

Now looking forward, Suarez will represent Team USA at the 2024 Veteran World Championships in Dubai later this year, and he already has his sights set on another medal. 

“I want to make gold in individual there,” he says.

For Laura Lin (Medeo Fencing Club), individual gold looked like a monumental task when she finished pools with a record of 2-4 (-5). But after that, she went on a roll and didn’t lose again.

“I think in general, for pool bouts, it's still kind of like a warmup for me,” she says. “So even if I do bad, I know that I still have a chance in DEs. And that if I learned from my mistakes in pools, then I will do better in DEs, hopefully.”

After a tournament, while the lessons learned are at their freshest, Lin likes to open up her phone’s Notes app to record what went well and what she’d improve for next time.

“And, of course, when my parents take videos, I like to watch them over too,” she says. 

Ethan Gassner (Golden State Fencing Academy) will want to rewatch today’s bouts again and again after he fenced flawlessly all day on the way to his national championship in Division I-A Men’s Foil. 

He was perfect through pools (6-0, +21) and allowed no opponent more than 10 touches through the direct elimination rounds.

With a renewed rating and national championship in his pocket, Gassner was ready for a summer break — a short one, that is.

“I feel great,” he says. “I'm tired, I want to go home, I want to sleep, eat food. And then get ready for the next competitions next year.”

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Ethan Gassner (Golden State Fencing Academy)

Silver: Nickolas Rusadze (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)

Bronze: Eric Li (Star Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Castor Kao (Star Fencing Academy)

5th: Ivan-Asen Radoslavov (Fencers Club Inc.)

6th: Noel Song (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)

7th: Gregory Mitberg (Northwest Fencing Center)

8th: Jackson Sullivan (Moe Fencing Club LLC & Brandeis University)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Steliana Strugar (Northwest Fencing Center)

Silver: Emily Sun (Team Touche Fencing Center)

Bronze: Sophia Lai (Fencing Institute Of Texas / Austin Fencers Club)

Bronze: Ameliya Ayupova (United Fencing Academy)

5th: Sophie Lenk (Massialas Foundation)

6th: Addison Ho (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)

7th: Nadia Zeldin (Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Yi Ling Sha (Moe Fencing Club LLC / Gold Fencing Club)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Laura Lin (Medeo Fencing Club)

Silver: Caitlin Wong (South Florida Fencing Club)

Bronze: Mika Chirashnya (Academy Of Fencing Masters)

Bronze: Amanda Lai (Academy Of Fencing Masters)

5th: Alicia Chen (Medeo Fencing Club)

6th: Isabella Beatie (Woodlands International Fencing Club)

7th: Margarita Gavasheli (Penta Olympic Fencing Club)

8th: Yamara Escalante (Epee Miami Fencing Club)

Gold: Boston Fencing Club (Chase Callahan, Nisha Hild, Hannah Lee, Maggie Shealy)

Silver: The United Nations (Emilia Pabian, Irmak Senoglu, Heartlyn Tabangay, Gloria Wang)

Bronze: House of the Dragon (Rainer Dragon, Fatima Largaespada, Yelyzaveta Melnychuk, Lindsay Stapleton)

Gold: Small Mafia (William Becker, Medhat Elbakry, Jon Graff)

Silver: The Troublemakers (Dmitri Kopylov, Ronald Thornton, Stephen Dashnaw, Chris Matt)

Bronze: Remington Steel (James Zirkle, Derek Plonka, Michael Bacon, Sergey Makogon)

Gold: Team FeNCe (Jane Carter, Inga Cho, Margaret Kerr, Ann Marsh-Senic)

Silver: Brooklyn College with Love (Jennette Starks-Faulkner, Georgina Love, Sharone Huey, Anne-Marie Walters)

Bronze: What The F..oil! (Julie Seal, Traci Sethre, Kathryn Pierrynowski, Velyn Wu)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Dong-Ying Pai (Twin Cities Fencing Club)

Silver: Stephen Jan (Metropolitan NYC)

Bronze: Andrew Radu (Fencing Sports Academy)

Bronze: Patricio Moreno Briones (Northwest Fencing Center)

5th: Thomas Cheng (Stoccata Fencing Academy & Club & Orlando Fencing Sports Center LLC)

6th: Douglas Miller (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)

7th: Zhiyong Zhao (Bluegrass Fencers' Club & Queen City Fencers Club LLC)

8th: Mitchell Lane (Fencing Club Asheville)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Rafael Suarez (Masters Fencing Club) 

Silver: Marek Wyszynski (Fencers Club Inc.) 

Bronze: Anatolie Senic (Renaissance Fencing Club) 

Bronze: Oliver Foellmer (LA International Fencing) 

5th: Leo Popokh (Fencing Institute Of Texas) 

6th: Michael Cho (Renaissance Fencing Club) 

7th: Tommy Sirico (Capitol) 

8th: Alan Chernomashentsev (Fioretto Fencing Academy)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Peter Grandbois (Denison University Fencing) 

Silver: Julio Diaz (Invictus Fencing) 

Bronze: Eric Dew (Halberstadt Fencers' Club) 

Bronze: Henri Darricau (Denver Fencing Center) 

5th: Jamie Douraghy (LA International Fencing) 

6th: Jerry LeBlanc (Elite Fencing Club) 

7th: Mitch Dorfman (Morris Fencing Club) 

8th: Harris Done (Elite Fencing Club / Beverly Hills Fencers' Club)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Philippe Bennett (Fencers Club Inc.)

Silver: Joseph Biebel (AZ United Fencing Club)

Bronze: Richard Mayer (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Malcolm "Werewolf" Patterson (Capitol)

5th: Joseph Streb (Columbus International Fencing Academy & Royal Arts Fencing Academy)

6th: Michael Ress (Hudson Centers for the Martial Arts)

7th: Tom Lutton (Denver Fencing Center)

8th: Dan McCarthy (The Phoenix Center)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Davis Carvey (Rain City Fencing Center & Salle Auriol Seattle)

Silver: Stephen Neff (Fencing Academy of Philadelphia - University City)

Bronze: Fritz Chang (NEMA Fencing Center)

Bronze: Donald Anderson (New Mexico Fencing Foundation)

5th: Raul Acosta (Miami Lakes Fencing Club)

6th: Ed Sady (Fencing Sports Academy)

7th: Neil Weiss (Denver Fencing Center)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Christopher Davoodian (Swords Fencing Studio) 

Silver: Benjamin Mao (Medeo Fencing Club) 

Bronze: Tudor Hamza (Kaizen Academy LLC) 

Bronze: Lawson Graves (Windy City Fencing-Chicago) 

5th: Andy Zheng (Guanyi Fencing Academy / Twin Cities Fencing Club) 

6th: A.J. Trull (Ocean State Fencing Club / Marx Fencing Academy) 

7th: Johndale Carty Jr. (South Florida Fencing Club) 

8th: Edison Tai (Battle Born Fencing Club)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Daniil Kovalev (West Coast Fencing Academy)

Silver: Kendrick Kim (Globus Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jayden Hwang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)

Bronze: Devyn Anthony (Peter Westbrook Foundation / Fencers Club Inc.)

5th: Jake Gonzalez (Globus Fencing Academy)

6th: Jonathan Ng (Durkan Fencing Academy)

7th: Nicholas Mehan (Stamford Fencing Center, LLC)

8th: Rayn Patel (Capital Fencing Academy)

Gold and 2024 National Champion: Xuanyi Zhang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona)

Silver: Valentina Chiarelli (Manhattan Fencing Center)

Bronze: Hanna Gugala (Bergen Fencing Club)

Bronze: Isabella Favo (Alpha Fencing Academy)

5th: Persephone Foss (Fencing Academy of Boston)

5th: Sahana Gautam (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)

7th: Delilah Huai (Premier Fencing Academy)

8th: Ellie Kang (Halberstadt Fencers' Club)

Find all the great Day 6 photos on Facebook.