COLUMBUS, Ohio — Following a big weekend competing against the strongest competition in the nation, the UC San Diego fencing team sent four scholar-athletes to compete at this weekend's 2024 NCAA Fencing National Championships hosted by Ohio State.
 
Renee Zuhars represented the Tritons' women's squad competing in the epee, while a trio of UC San Diego men also received bids as Arnav Raja and Hananiah So fenced in saber and Scott Lao competed in the foil event after strong regular seasons. Overall, the four Triton scholar-athletes combined for a 19^th place finish among the 27 institutions that participated in this weekend's bouts.
 
Zuhars was competing in her second NCAA Championships in a row and earned key victories over the individual champion Emily Vermeule from Harvard, and the eventual third place fnisher from St. John's Nicole Feygin. Fencing at a high level throughout her entire weekend in very close matchups, the final score in 14 of her bouts were decided by one point.
 
Headlining the UC San Diego men's team this weekend was a strong weekend from Arnav Raja in his first ever NCAA National Championships. Across the 23 matches he competed in this weekend, Raja earned an impressive victory over Ohio State's Luca Fioretto who came in third place overall in the saber National Championships.  
 
WOMEN'S RESULTS
Epee:
Renee Zuhars: 15^th Place, 10-13, .435 percentage, 86 touches scored, 91 touches received
 
MEN'S RESULTS
Saber:
Arnav Raja: 19^th Place, 8-15, .348 percentage, 67 touches scored, 99 touches received
Hananiah So: 23^rd Place, 5-18, .217 percentage, 67 touches scored, 98 touches received
 
Foil:
Scott Lao: 24^th Place, 4-19, ,174 percentage, 62 touches scored, 106 touches received
 
QUOTABLE
"I was impressed with how Renee faced the NCAA Finals, she went head-to-head with the top epee fencers in the NCAA and did so with great skill and determination," UC San Diego head fencing coach Juan Ignacio Calderon said. "I have never seen so many close bouts in competition and she clearly deserved a better outcome. But when you do everything within your control you ought to be proud."
 
"For Scott, Arnav and Hananiah, this was their first NCAA National Championships in a very competitive field where experience is proven to be decisive. That is a key asset that they will bring back to the team."
 
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 II and III 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.