LA JOLLA, Calif. – Following another strong season for the UC San Diego fencing team, head coach
Juan Ignacio Calderon and freshman
Hananiah So were each selected for MPSF Awards on Monday morning.
Calderon took home the conference's Head Coach of the Year award after helping to lead four Triton scholar-athletes to the NCAA Championships as well as seven selections to the All-MPSF teams for the 2023-24 season. This is the first time in Calderon's career that he has been selected as the conference's coach of the year. His leadership was instrumental to the Tritons' success in the regular and postseason as he helped both men's and women's teams finish with an 8-3 mark at the prestigious Northwestern Duals.
Cultivating success throughout the roster, Calderon helped lead
Renee Zuhars to the 2024 MPSF Women's Epee Championship as well as
Zara Fearns to the same title in the women's saber. On the men's side, Calderon was instrumental in helping
Arnav Raja,
Hananiah So and
Scott Lao each reach the NCAA Championships which included Raja earning a victory over the eventual third place finisher in Arnav's first ever NCAA Championships.
Hailing from New York City, Hananiah made the most of his debut season in La Jolla as he accumulated a 29-20 overall record in his bouts which was headlined by an impressive 16-7 weekend mark at the Northwetern Duals. So's the first Triton in program history to receive this honor as his season ended with five bout victories in the NCAA Championships as well as winning the men's saber event at the NCAA West Regionals.
Showcasing his promise early on during his UC San Diego tenure, So turned in a stand out performance at November's North American Cup where he finished in ninth place among a pool of 308 athletes.
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.
