April 2025 NAC, Day 1: Gold, Grit, and Community Shine on Day One

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by Nicole Kirk & Rachel Luce

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The first day of the 2025 Division I National Championship, Parafencing National Championship, and April North American Cup was full of smiles as people earned their gold medals and won their national championship titles.


Ron Thornton (Capital Fencing Academy) won his third consecutive gold medal after winning gold at the January NAC. He claimed multiple golds at a previous NAC, and in the Vet-50 Men’s Saber event today.


“This is my third gold medal in a row. Won the January Vet, 50 NAC, and the vet combined. So three in a row. It's feeling very good,” said Thornton.


He credits his fellow veteran fencers and their close bond for his success. 


“We are a very close community. Everybody in the Vet 50’s, 60’s, and now the up-and-coming Vet 40’s. We're a very close group, and we do get to see each other. We get to fence each other a lot. We fence each other a lot in the regional events. And so we're just staying on top of each other and just trying our best to stay ahead of one another, to keep on top.”


Paralympian Garrett Schoonover (Valkyrie Fencing Club) also related to the community helping him to his success. When winning the national title for Parafencing Men’s Epee, he reflected on the one thing he would want people to know about the sport. He said “It's fun. It is a challenge like you come in and you can be a very technical fencer, but in a three-day tournament, if you don't have the athleticism to get through it, you have to pair the brains with the braun and/or lean on one heavier than the other.”


“It's so uniquely different from any other sport that I have participated in. And I just love it. I think everybody who comes to it loves it. I haven't talked to anybody who's come out of one of these things. I'm like, I hate it. Never doing it again. It's a fantastic community of people, and that has been the biggest takeaway for me. Coming into this sport was really just kind of a fluke. A friend was like, You should come practice. You might be good at it. And I fell in love almost immediately with the sport. But the people are really what cemented it for me, this crowd is fantastic, from one human being to the next, incredible stories, wonderful intra-network support. And I cherish these people. They are my family.”


Chloe Fox-Gitomer(Oregon Fencing Alliance, Princeton University Fencing) bounced back after coming in second at last year’s April NAC after taking a year off to coach. This year, she found her momentum and surprised herself by claiming gold. 


“Honestly, really exciting. I was not expecting this at all. I think I definitely put the cart before the horse, because last year I got second. [This year’s tournament] I was feeling really good when I practiced, and then I hopped on that strip.”


Throughout her DE’s she started to feel better about her performance and she said, “I don't know. I think usually it just takes me a while to warm up. Like I am getting, I feel I'm not old, but I feel like I'm getting all crunchy.” After getting the ball rolling she felt more confident and is going home with gold.

Day 1 Results


Division I Women’s Foil

National Champion: JoJo Conway (University of Notre Dame & Escrime Du Lac)

Silver: Emily Jing (Star Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Ella Calise (Tim Morehouse Fencing Club – Port Chester)

Bronze: Lydia Shen (Star Fencing Academy)

5th: Joy Liu (Golubitsky Fencing Center)

6th: Viviene Goor (Massialas Foundation)

7th: Katherine Kim (University of California San Diego & Golubitsky Fencing Center)

8th: Renee Chen (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)


Division I Women’s Saber

Gold: Chloe Fox-Gitomer (Oregon Fencing Alliance & Princeton University)

Silver: Lola Possick (Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy & University of Notre Dame)

Bronze: Sophia Kovacs (Durkan Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Charmaine Andres (Cali Fencing)

5th: Magda Skarbonkiewicz (Oregon Fencing Alliance & University of Notre Dame)

6th: Vivian Lu (Manhattan Fencing Center & University of Pennsylvania)

7th: Natalie Tsui (Manhattan Fencing Center)

8th: Xuanyi Zhang (LA Fencing Academy of Pomona & Spartak)


Division I Men’s Epee

National Champion: Michael Bezrodnov (Medeo Fencing Club)

Silver: Gabriel Feinberg (Olympia Fencing Center & The Ohio State University)

Bronze: Tristan Szapary (Fencers Club Inc. & Princeton University)

Bronze: Sean Strong (Presidio Fencing Club)

5th: Oleg Knysh (Alliance Fencing Academy)

6th: Christopher Chong (Penta Olympic Fencing Club & University of Notre Dame)

7th: Allen Marakov (Duke University & Medeo Fencing Club)

8th: Edison Tai (Battle Born Fencing Club)


Junior Men’s Foil

Gold: Castor Kao (Star Fencing Academy & Yale University)

Silver: Yonjae Kim (Top Fencing Club)

Bronze: Jinning Liu (Northern California)

Bronze: Peter Bruk (Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy)

5th: Caleb Jeon (Silicon Valley Fencing Center)

6th: Akhil Lewis (Top Fencing Club)

7th: Jeidus Deseranno (Renaissance Fencing Club)

8th: Ethan Cheng (Star Fencing Academy)


Parafencing Women's Epee #

National Champion: Jataya Taylor PLY (Denver Fencing Center & Invictus Fencing)

Silver: Shelby Mitchell PLY (Valkyrie Fencing Club)

Bronze: Cora Weeks (German Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Stephanina Michaelis (Valkyrie Fencing Club)

5th: Mama T Dykes (Orion Fencing & Zeljkovic Fencing Academy)

6th: Kimberlee Dodd (United Fencing Academy)

7th: Aine Mallory (United Fencing Academy)


Parafencing Men's Epee #

National Champion: Garrett Schoonover PLY (Valkyrie Fencing Club)

Silver: Abe Kaplan (Greensboro Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Nicholas Badeaux (Fencing Institute of Texas & Invictus Fencing)

Bronze: Noah Hanssen PLY (Maryland)

5th: Scott Rodgers (Denver Fencing Center)

6th: Tim Kortenkamp (San Francisco Fencing Academy)

7th: Timothy Birt (Shepherd Swords Fencing Club & Auburn Fencing Club)

8th: Josh Russell


Vet-40 Women’s Epee

Gold:Charlotta Bowie (Modern Duelists Fencing Academy)

Silver: Lori Radich (Hangtown Saber Club & The Fencing Center)

Bronze: Anna Telles (Salle Auriol Seattle)

Bronze: Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Connecticut Fencers Club & Marx Fencing Academy)

5th: Anne-Marie Walters (Masters Fencing Club)

6th: Cara Wunderlich (Rogue Fencing Academy & The Phoenix Center)

7th: Gemin Channing (Capitol)

8th: Cathy Kelley (Olympian Fencing Club)


Vet-50 Women’s Epee

Gold: Sandra Marchant (Rogue Fencing Academy & The Phoenix Center)

Silver: Heidi Chang (Academy of Fencing Masters & NEMA Fencing Center)

Bronze: Lisa Wolf (Riverside Fencing Club)

Bronze: Kristin Foellmer (DC Fencers Club)

5th: Leslie Marx (Marx Fencing Academy)

6th: Michele Carey (Bozeman Fencing Association)

7th: Ann Totemeier (Northern Colorado Fencers & Denver Fencing Center)

8th: Benita Ramage


Vet-60 Women’s Epee

Gold: Valerie Asher (DC Fencers Club)

Silver: Cynthia Glover (Rain City Fencing Center & Salle Auriol Seattle)

Bronze: Toby Tolley (The Phoenix Center & Rogue Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Dawn Lorentson (Shoreline Fencers Club & Riverside Fencing Club)

5th: Amy Montoya (Battle Born Fencing Club)

6th: Suzanne Bloomer (Academy of Fencing Masters & University of Alaska Fairbanks Fencing Club)

7th: MJ Jensen (Olympia Fencing Center)

8th: Georgina Love (Space Coast Olympic Fencing)


Vet-70 Women’s Epee

Gold: Charlotta Bowie (Modern Duelists Fencing Academy)

Silver: Lori Radich (Hangtown Saber Club & The Fencing Center)

Bronze: Anna Telles (Salle Auriol Seattle)

Bronze: Jennette Starks-Faulkner (Connecticut Fencers Club & Marx Fencing Academy)

5th: Anne-Marie Walters (Masters Fencing Club)

6th: Cara Wunderlich (Rogue Fencing Academy & The Phoenix Center)

7th: Gemin Channing

8th: Cathy Kelley (Olympian Fencing Club)


Vet-80 Women’s Epee

Gold: Erica Julien (Forge Fencing Teams DUR & Cape Fear Fencing Association)

Silver: Patricia Bedrosian (Salle Couturier)

Bronze: Bettie Graham (Chevy Chase Fencing Club)

Bronze: Mary Turzillo


Vet-40 Men’s Saber

Gold: Hamdy Refaee (Southern California Fencing Academy)

Silver: Shirui Zhu (Lone Star Fencing Center)

Bronze: Max Terentiev (Fencing Academy of Westchester)

Bronze: Joseph Greene (Denver Fencing Center)

5th: Pietro Ferraro (Capital Fencing Academy)

6th: James Zirkle (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)

7th: Douglas Miller (RedStar Fencing Club Chicago)

8th: Jeffrey Kallio (Forge Fencing Teams DUR)


Vet-50 Men’s Saber

Gold: Ronald Thornton (Capital Fencing Academy)

Silver: Joshua Bush (Lincoln Fencing Club)

Bronze: Tony Escueta (Globus Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Michael Bacon (Manhattan Fencing Center)

5th: Kim Phillips (Zeta Fencing)

6th: Sergey Makogon (Triple Threat Fencing Academy)

7th: Richard Colter (Denver Fencing Center)

8th: Kevin Chu (Fencers Club Inc.)


Vet-60 Men’s Saber

Gold: William Becker (Jacksonville Fencing Club)

Silver: Val Kizik (IndySabre)

Bronze: Chris Matt (Capital Fencing Academy)

Bronze: Jeffrey Gueble (Infinity Fencing Alliance & Washington Fencing Academy)

5th: Richard Herrera (PDX Fencing)

6th: Steven Heck (Nazlymov Fencing Foundation)

7th: Joshua Runyan (Spartak)

8th: Steve Wildman (Kansas City Fencing Center)


Vet-70 Men’s Saber

Gold: Jacaeber Kastor (Manhattan Fencing Center)

Silver: David Seuss (Fencing Academy of Boston)

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

Bronze: Philip Reilly (Oregon Fencing Alliance)

5th: Garik Gutman (Capital Fencing Academy)

6th: Alfred Lara (Oregon Fencing Alliance & Eugene Fencers Club)

7th: Joseph McLaughlin (Forge Fencing Teams DUR & Cape Fear Fencing Association)

7th: Paul Rosenthal (Sheridan Fencing Academy & Sheridan Fencing Academy of Westchester)


Vet-80 Men’s Saber

Gold: Lucas Dobrzanski (Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation)

Silver: Lun-Hun Lin 

Bronze: Donald Anderson (New Mexico Fencing Foundation)

Bronze: James Gallivan (Fortune Fencing)

Find all the Friday photos here.

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