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Itkin, Harley and Comes Win Division I Championship Titles
(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – When Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center / Notre Dame) won his first Division I National Championship in 2017, the then-17-year-old had established himself as a top junior and had just begun competing on the senior international circuit.
Four years later, Itkin has qualified for the Tokyo Olympic Games where he will enter as the No. 9 men’s foil fencer in the world and a member of a team favored for gold.
Since his first Division I National Championship win, Itkin has racked up six more gold medals on the national circuit, including another last month at the June NAC and entered his final tournament before Tokyo as the favorite to become just the second person in the last two decades to win three Div I Men’s Foil National Championship titles with the last being his Tokyo teammate Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, Calif. / Massialas Foundation) who won the event in 2007, 2008 and 2012.
While the event may have been a Tokyo warmup for Itkin, he would find himself tested by one of his Junior World teammates in what is likely to be one of the best comebacks of the tournament.
Seeded eighth out of pools, Itkin cruised through his first three direct elimination bouts, defeating Jason Chin (Saratoga, Calif. / Silicon Valley Fencing Center), 15-6; Kevin Katayama (Oakhurst, N.J. / V Fencing Club / New Jersey Institute of Technology), 15-1; and Dylan Hooshi (Westbury, N.Y. / East Coast Fencing Club), 15-6.
In the table of 16, Itkin fenced his LAIFC teammate, Bryce Louie (Los Angeles, Calif. / University of Pennsylvania) in a rematch of their final from the June NAC. Itkin won the bout, 15-10, and went on to defeat 2021 Cadet World bronze medalist Chase Emmer (Morristown, N.J. / V Fencing Club), 15-12.
Itkin’s biggest test of the day would come in the semifinals where he faced Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif. / Silicon Valley Fencing Center / Harvard) – his teammate on the Junior World squad that won gold in 2017 and bronze in 2018. The two have battled since they were youth fencers and this would be no exception with Tourette going on a 9-1 run in the first period to build an 11-4 lead on his former teammate. Itkin dug in during the final minute, though, scoring eight unanswered touches to regain the lead at 12-11 going into the break. With the score tied at 13 in the second, Tourette scored first, but Itkin clinched the win with two more touches to take the bout, 15-14.
In the final, Itkin fenced 2019 Division I National Champion Adam Mathieu (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Fencers Club) and controlled the bout from the start, ending the first period with an 11-5 lead and finishing the win at 15-7 in the second.
Seventeen-year-old Colby Harley (Alpharetta, Ga. / Nellya Fencers) is familiar with standing on the podium, taking gold in the junior men’s saber event at the May North American Cup and earning the cadet title at the 2019 July Challenge. Three months after winning bronze at the Cadet World Championships, Harley earned the title of Division I Men’s Saber National Champion on Sunday.
Ranked 10th after the pool rounds, Harley defeated Adam Barnett (Edgewater, N.J. / Durkan Fencing Academy / Cleveland State), 15-10, and Aidan Vochoska (Laguna Hills, Calif. / Laguna Fencing Center), 15-8, before holding off Jaden Callahan (Carlsbad, Calif. / Spartak), 15-14, in the 16.
In the quarter-finals, Harley defeated 2021 Junior World Team member Jackson McBride (Gilbert, Ariz. / Phoenix Fencing Academy), 15-8, to advance to the semifinals of a Division I event for the first time in his career.
Harley came out aggressively against 2021 NCAA silver medalist Jared Smith (Ladera Ranch, Calif. / Avant Garde Fencers Club / Notre Dame), ending the first period with an 8-2 lead and closing the bout at 15-6.
Harley controlled his final bout as well, leading Noah Te Velde (Leverett, Mass. / Peter Westbrook Foundation), 8-3, at the break and taking the bout, 15-10.
Matthew Comes (Bothell, Wash. / Kaizen Academy / Ohio State) has climbed through the National Championship ranks, winning the Division III National Championship in 2014 as a 15-year-old and the Division I A title in 2018 at age 19. Now, at 22, Comes overcame a stacked field to win the Division I Nationals in men’s epee.
Comes entered the tournament unranked with a 125th seed and began the direct elimination rounds with a 54th seed after a 4-2 finish in the pool rounds, picking off his opponents, one by one.
Comes bested Anton Chmut (Garden City, N.Y. / New York Fencing Academy), 15-9, in the table of 128 and Zeyad Elashry (San Gabriel, Calif. / Fortune Fencing), 15-6, in the table of 64 just two months after Elashry earned a top-eight finish at the May NAC.
In the next two rounds, Comes defeated two members of the team that won silver at the 2021 Junior Worlds with 15-12 wins over Mihir Kumashi (Houston, Texas / Alliance Fencing Academy) and Valentin Matveev (Las Vegas, Nev. / Battle Born Fencing Club / Notre Dame).
Comes went on to advance to the semifinals after a win against 2018 NCAA silver medalist Sean White (New York City, N.Y. / Fencers Club), 15-11.
In the semis, he took on 2017 World University Games Team member Gabriel Canaux (Brooklyn, N.Y. / New York Athletic Club) and kept the bout within one touch throughout until Canaux pulled away at 14-12 in the final minute of the third period. Comes stayed focused, though, and scored three singles to clinch the bout with 21 seconds on the clock.
Comes faced 2021 Cadet World bronze medalist Skyler Liverant (Brooklyn, N.Y. / New York Fencing Academy) and held one-touch leads at 6-5 and 12-11 after the first two periods, respectively. With the score tied at 13, the two fencers doubled for 14, but it was Comes who put up one light to end the bout at 15-14.
In the cadet women’s events, three first-time Junior Olympic Champions were crowned.
Fourteen-year-old Veronica Mika (Basking Ridge, N.J. / Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy) was one of the youngest in the field, but has had a breakout season, winning silver and bronze as a Y14 fencer at the April and May NACs and earning cadet bronze in June.
Mika ended the pool rounds with the first seed, but would need to fight hard in the DE rounds, pulling out two 15-14 and two 15-13 wins in her first four bouts. In the semis, she defeated Himani Kalra (Johns Creek, Ga. Nellya Fencers), 15-12, and built an 8-5 lead against Alexandra Tzou (New York City, N.Y. / Sheridan Fencing Academy) after the first period. Tzou pushed the bout in the second, however, tying the score first at 11 and then at 14 before Mika ended with a 15-14 win.
After bronze medal finishes in the junior and Division I events at the June NAC, 16-year-old Sedna Gandhi (Mamaroneck, N.Y. / Fencing Academy of Westchester) won her first Junior Olympic title in the cadet women’s epee event.
Gandhi, the 2019 Division IA National Champion and 2018 Division III silver medalist, went undefeated in pools, but four of her first six bouts were nailbiters with 15-13 or 15-14 scores, including 15-14 wins over 2021 Cadet World Team member Faith Park (Lorton, Va. / DC Fencers Club) in the 16 and April NAC Y14 Champion Sarah Gu (Warren, N.J. / Medeo Fencing Club) in the semis.
Gandhi would come up against Sophia Jakel (Bethesda, Md. / DC Fencers Club) – a two-time medalist in the Y14 events in April and May – in the finals. Gandi took a 10-5 lead in the first period and earned the win, 15-9, in the second.
A silver medalist as a cadet at the 2019 November NAC, 15-year-old Ivy Zheng (Lexington, Mass. / Marx Fencing Academy) won her first gold medal on the circuit in the women’s foil competition.
Seeded 12th after a 6-0 result in the pool rounds, Zheng won her first four DEs and defeated Ryanne Leslie (Philadelphia, Pa. / V Fencing Club), a 2019 Y14 November NAC gold medalist, by a score of 11-10 in overtime to advance to the finals.
In the finals, Zheng held an 8-1 lead against the event’s top seed, 2021 Cadet World Team member Crystal Qian (Cupertino, Calif. / Silicon Valley Fencing Center), but Qian cut Zheng’s lead to 10-5 with just over 30 seconds remaining in the bout. Qian scored three more touches to take the score to 10-8 before Zheng replied with a touch of her own. After replay, however, the touch was awarded to Qian who was within one at 10-9 with 1.71 seconds on the clock. Qian ran at Zheng who fell backward, scoring a touch as she went down. The touch would be annulled due to the fall and Zheng was given a red card for uncontrolled fencing, giving Qian a touch that would tie the score at 10 and send the bout to overtime. Zheng attacked first, scoring the winning touch and taking the bout, 11-10.
Top eight results are as follows:
Division I Men’s Epee National Championships
1. Matthew Comes (Bothell, Wash. / Kaizen Academy / Ohio State)
2. Skyler Liverant (Brooklyn, N.Y. / New York Fencing Academy)
3. Adam Rodney (New Orleans, La. / Peter Westbrook Foundation)
3. Gabriel Canaux (Brooklyn, N.Y. / New York Athletic Club)
5. Sean White (New York City, N.Y. / Fencers Club)
6. Adi Thein-Sandler (Topanga, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center / Harvard)
7. Michael Bissinger (Houston, Texas / Alliance Fencing Academy)
8. Ryan Griffiths (Fairlawn, N.J. / New York Athletic Club / Penn State)
Division I Men’s Foil National Championships
1. Nick Itkin (Los Angeles, Calif. / Los Angeles International Fencing Center / Notre Dame)
2. Adam Mathieu (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Fencers Club)
3. John Griffin (Sugar Land, Texas)
3. Geoffrey Tourette (Cupertino, Calif. / Silicon Valley Fencing Center / Harvard)
5. Brandon Li (Acton, Mass. / Marx Fencing Academy)
6. Ashton Daniel (Cupertino, Calif. / Silicon Valley Fencing Center / Columbia)
7. James Chen (New York City, N.Y. / Fencers Club)
8. Chase Emmer (Morristown, N.J. / V Fencing Club)
Division I Men’s Saber National Championships
1. Colby Harley (Alpharetta, Ga. / Nellya Fencers)
2. Noah Te Velde (Leverett, Mass. / Peter Westbrook Foundation)
3. Adam Lai (Plano, Texas / Globus Fencing Academy)
3. Jared Smith (Ladera Ranch, Calif. / Avant Garde Fencers Club / Notre Dame)
5. Malcolm Fields (Green Brook, N.J. / Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy / Notre Dame)
6. Robert Vidovszky (Folsom, Calif. / Premier Fencing Academy / Columbia)
7. Jackson McBride (Gilbert, Ariz. / Phoenix Fencing Academy)
8. Zaheer Booth (New York City, N.Y. / Peter Westbrook Foundation)
Cadet Women’s Epee Junior Olympic Championships
1. Sedna Gandhi (Mamaroneck, N.Y. / Fencing Academy of Westchester)
2. Sophia Jakel (Bethesda, Md. / DC Fencers Club)
3. Sarah Gu (Warren, N.J. / Medeo Fencing Club)
3. Karen Wang (Houston, Texas / Alliance Fencing Academy)
5. Isabella Chin (Manhasset, N.Y. / New York Fencing Academy)
6. Syd Tyler (Chicago, Ill. / Windy City Fencing – Chicago)
7. Alexandra Drovetsky (Martinsville, N.J. / Medeo Fencing Club)
8. Ivanna Ortega (Fort Worth, Texas / Gold Blade Fencing Center)
Cadet Women’s Foil Junior Olympic Championships
1. Ivy Zheng (Lexington, Mass. / Marx Fencing Academy)
2. Crystal Qian (Cupertino, Calif. / Silicon Valley Fencing Center)
3. Ryanne Leslie (Philadelphia, Pa. / V Fencing Club)
3. Arianna Cao (Massialas Foundation)
5. Katerina Lung (Moe Fencing Club)
6. Emily Jing (Lexington, Mass. / Marx Fencing Academy)
7. Daniella Davia ( / 5T Fencers Club)
8. Gabrielle Gebala ( / Academy of Fencing Masters)
Cadet Women’s Saber Junior Olympic Championships
1. Veronica Mika (Basking Ridge, N.J. / Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy)
2. Alexandra Tzou (New York City, N.Y. / Sheridan Fencing Academy)
3. Himani Kalra (Johns Creek, Ga. / Nellya Fencers)
3. Samantha Marsee (Sacramento, Calif. / Premier Fencing Academy)
5. Siobhan Sullivan (Tigard, Ore. / Oregon Fencing Alliance)
6. Reya Ghayalod (Hopatcong, N.J. / Durkan Fencing Academy)
7. Madison Four-Garcia (Union City, N.J. / Tim Morehouse Fencing Club)
8. Megumi Oishi (Portland, Ore. / PDX Fencing)
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