EASTON, Pa. – The sixth-ranked Duke fencing team traveled to Easton, Pa., for the 2019 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional on Saturday as 11 Blue Devils notched top-10 performances, highlighted by junior Eoin Gronningsater and freshman Zoe Superville reaching the podium from the foil squad.
For the first time in program history, Duke qualified 10 fencers to the upcoming NCAA Championships in addition to one possible at-large bid. The qualifiers for foil are Gronningsater, Superville, Brycen Rushing and Julia Gianneschi, as Lindsay Sapienza, Alex Gorman and Ping Ping Kitsiriboon qualified for saber. Huda Aldadah, Maria Papadopoulos and Bryn Hammarberg qualified for epee, in addition to Joe Choo receiving the at-large bid.
In the final round of pool play, Gronningsater logged a 9-2 ledger and finished the afternoon with 18 overall victories to capture gold.
Rookie Superville recorded eight wins in the final round of pool play and concluded competition with 14 victories.
In addition to Gronningsater and Superville notching medals, other Blue Devils that finished in the top 10 were Hammarberg (fifth – epee), Rushing (sixth – foil), Gorman (sixth – saber), Gianneschi (sixth – foil), Aldadah (seventh – epee), Sapienza (seventh – saber), Kitsiriboon (eighth – saber) and Rhiannon Harvey (eighth – foil).
The Blue Devils will finish the 2019 season at the NCAA Fencing Championships March 21-24 in Cleveland, Ohio. Qualifiers for the national meet will be announced next week.
A full list of how all Duke competitors performed today can be found below:
#GoDuke
MEN'S SABER
8. Ping Ping Kitsiriboon
15. Ben Stone
17. Terence Lee
27. Duncan De Caire
MEN'S FOIL
1. Eoin Gronningsater
6. Brycen Rushing
15. Jonathan Schwartzman
36. Austin Li
MEN'S EPEE
5. Bryn Hammarberg
11. Joe Choo
12. Aidan McGinnis
16. Amit Sarma
WOMEN'S SABER
6. Alex Gorman
7. Lindsay Sapienza
18. Brenda Yang
23. Sarah Hung
WOMEN'S FOIL
2. Zoe Superville
6. Julia Gianneschi
8. Rhiannon Harvey
16. Kristen Coury
WOMEN'S EPEE
6. Maria Papadopoulos
7. Huda Aldadah
11. Ava Navarro
12. Claudia Wrampelmeier
