COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — UC San Diego fencing wrapped its first collegiate event of the season on Sunday afternoon. The Triton women went 4-5, while the men were 3-5 at the West Invitational on Air Force's campus in Colorado Springs.
 
Sophomores Dayus Gohel and Katherine Kim had the Tritons' best individual performances. Gohel was 13-5, while Kim was 15-5, including a win over last year's NCAA champion in her weapon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Triton women went 2-3 on day one, with two of their loses coming to ranked opponents. Sunday's day two action started with two more loses to ranked teams before commanding wins over Denison and Incarnate Word.
 
Saturday went fairly similarly for the men's side, who were also 2-3 with a pair of loses to ranked teams. The Triton men then only had three matches on Sunday, toppling Brandeis but adding two more ranked loses. The Tritons showed strong improvement against No. 1 Columbia with just a one-point loss.
 
Matches against fellow Mountain Pacific Sports Federation sides went largely in favor of the Tritons. The women beat both Air Force and Incarnate Word, with the men topping Incarnate Word but falling to Air Force by one point.
 
The epee squads shone for both teams, registering six wins each across the weekend. Women's foil also had a winning record at 5-4.
 
FULL RESULTS
Women's Team

• No. 6 Ohio State – L,12-15
• Air Force – W, 22-5
• No. 2 Columbia – L, 4-23
• Brandeis – W, 23-4
• Tufts – L, 12-15
• No. 9 Stanford – L, 12-15
• No. 5 Northwestern – L, 18-9
• Denison – W, 23-4
• Incarnate Word – W, 21-6

Men's Team

• No. 5 Ohio State – L, 10-17
• Air Force – L, 13-14
• No. 1 Columbia – L, 4-23
• Brandeis – W, 14-13
• Incarnate Word – W, 20-7
• No. 11 Stanford – L, 9-18
• No. 1 Columbia – L, 13-14
• Brandeis – W, 19-8

TRITON TIDBITS

• Senior Sunny Sharma secured his 100th career victory this weekend. His all-time record is now 103-56 (.648).
• Kim bested two fellow All-Americans from last season's NCAA championships: Stanford's Ariana Cao and Northwestern's Dhane Chan.
• The Triton men entered the weekend ranked No. 15 nationally.

QUOTABLE
"Overall, we are very pleased with several standout individual and squad performances," head coach Juan Ignacio Calderon said. "However, our overall team results fell short due to an imbalance across weapons. On the men's side, we continue to field one of the strongest epee squads in the nation, clearly demonstrating the standard we aim to follow—especially in our narrow 13–14 loss to No. 1 Columbia on Sunday, a remarkable rebound after a difficult 4–23 result the previous day. On the women's side, our record still leaves room for growth, but we are confident these areas can be addressed in our upcoming January meets."
 
UP NEXT
The Tritons will be back in action Jan. 16-17 at the Philadelphia Invitational.
 
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 has begun a new era as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 39 have garnered 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in NCAA Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.