LA JOLLA, Calif. - For the first time since March 7 of 2020, the University of California San Diego fencing team will take to the strips for a collegiate competition as it travels to Colorado Saturday and Sunday for the West Invitational and Western Fencing Conference (WFC) Team Championships.
Hosted by the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Saturday's West Invitational takes place in Cadet Gymnasium, while Sunday's WFC Championships will be held in Clune Arena. Action both days gets underway at 7 a.m. Pacific. The WFC Championships can be followed with live video.
All four Western Fencing Conference teams - Air Force, Incarnate Word, Stanford, and UC San Diego - will be competing head-to-head in both events in men's and women's epee, men's and women's foil, and men's and women's saber.
The West Invitational will offer plenty of opportunity for competitors to get warmed up for the WFC Championships.
The UC San Diego women have dominated the WFC in recent years, winning four consecutive team titles from 2015-2018 and coming out on top in 2020 once again. In 2019, Air Force took the win on the women's side.
In 2020, the Triton men finished second to Stanford by a single touch.
A CONVERSATION WITH COACH JUAN IGNACIO CALDERON
Currently in his third season as head coach of the Tritons, Juan Ignacio Calderon answered questions about the upcoming events and the shortened season as a whole.
How excited are you and the team to finally get to compete?
"It is difficult to describe it with words. In a way, we need the excitement to make sure we get all the way to Nationals at the end of the month."
What are your expectations for Colorado?
"Our expectation is to finally do what we have worked so hard for this season... COMPETE! Saturday is the West Invitational which will help our fencers build up their season stats individually and will be a warmup for the Western Fencing Conference Team Championships for both women and men on Sunday."
Do we have the potential to win the Western Fencing Conference Team Championships?
"Yes, we do. We are the favorites together with our host, Air Force. We have won the women's title many times in the past, but it would be great to win the men's title for the first time. Last year, we were short by one touch!"
What are some of your thoughts on this year's team?
"Like everyone else, we have been challenged in ways we didn't expect, but the team showed an incredible ability to adapt. This is making us stronger and more supportive of each other and I am certain it will show on the strip when we compete."
What weapons are we strongest in?
"We are very well balanced, but this year the men's team is strong across all three weapons. On the women's side, we have a generational shift happening, but historically those have played well for us."
What is the qualification process for nationals this year?
"For the West Region, it will be based on this competition. Our region will analyze the results and submit a recommendation to the NCAA Fencing Championship Committee. They will announce the qualifiers on March 18th and Nationals will take place March 25-28 at Penn State University."
Describe how the team has dealt with pandemic protocols over the past year.
"The meaning of the word TEAM has expanded to new levels this year. The easy thing for the school would have been to shut down all athletic activities and skip the season. Instead, the school decided to give us some hope and all the resources to ensure safety. We adapted to evolving protocols and we felt supported all the way through these difficult months. We feel privileged for having this opportunity, especially with so much suffering the world is enduring. Whatever we achieve this year will be the merit of everyone in this amazing UC San Diego TEAM."
Anything else you'd like to add?
"THANK YOU again to everybody that supports us!"
LONG TIME COMING
The last time UC San Diego competed was on March 7 of 2020 at the West Regionals, hosted by the United States Air Force Academy. The Tritons earned five automatic qualifiers for the National Collegiate Championships - Benjamin Hadler (foil), Ziad Khayat (epee), Shawn Kim (saber), and Justin Park (saber) for the men and Amelia Harrison (epee) for the women. It was set to be the second trip to Nationals for Hadler and Khayat and the first for Harrison, a senior in 2020, and Park, a sophomore. Kim qualified by virtue of winning the West Region Saber title as a freshman. Nationals were set for March 19-22 in Detroit. Unfortunately on March 12, exactly one week before the event was to begin, the NCAA canceled its remaining winter and spring championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
THE SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 6 - Cadet Gym
Men's
8:00 am - Stanford vs. UC San Diego/Air Force vs. UIW
9:30 am - Sanford vs. Air Force/UC San Diego vs. UIW
10:45 am - Stanford vs. UIW/Air Force vs. UC San Diego
Women's
1:00 pm - Stanford vs. UC San Diego/Air Force vs. UIW
2:30 pm - Sanford vs. Air Force/UC San Diego vs. UIW
3:45 pm - Stanford vs. UIW/Air Force vs. UC San Diego
Sunday, March 7 - Clune Arena
Men's
8:00 am - Stanford vs. UC San Diego/Air Force vs. UIW
9:30 am - Sanford vs. Air Force/UC San Diego vs. UIW
10:45 am - Stanford vs. UIW/Air Force vs. UC San Diego
Women's
1:00 pm - Stanford vs. UC San Diego/Air Force vs. UIW
2:30 pm - Sanford vs. Air Force/UC San Diego vs. UIW
4:00 pm - Stanford vs. UIW/Air Force vs. UC San Diego
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About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
Return To Sport… Safely
In order for UC San Diego scholar-athletes to be permitted to return to training and competition safely and within federal, state, local, and university guidelines, the athletic department implemented a number of measures designed to complement and enhance the university's highly-successful Return To Learn program. Notable actions include being physically distanced when practical, including during out-of-season training sessions; wearing masks, except when undergoing physically strenuous exercise; and maintaining proper hygiene. Athletes, coaches, and staff are testing at a higher frequency than the campus population, teams adhere to CDC, NCAA, and Big West Conference guidelines, and department officials participate in regular meetings with conference and university-affiliated physicians and the UC San Diego emergency operations staff.
