INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Committee announced Tuesday the field for the 2026 National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships, with four UC San Diego fencers selected. The Tritons will have two men's epeeists in Nurzhan Abzhanov and Sunny Sharma, along with two women's foilists in Katherine Kim and Piper Randolph.
 
The University of Notre Dame will host the championships in South Bend, Indiana, March 19-22. There are 24 participants in each weapon.
 
Kim and Sharma are repeat selections to the national championships. In 2025, Kim finished seventh to earn Second Team All-American honors. Sharma was 21st.
 
Sharma earned an automatic spot in the competition after winning the NCAA West Regional Championship last Saturday. The remaining three Tritons were given at-large selections based on their performance this season.
 
Abzhanov is a freshman from Almaty, Kazakhstan, majoring in computer science at Sixth College. He went 25-15 in the regular season and won the MPSF Men's Epee Championship on Sunday. Abzhanov was second at the regional championship behind Sharma.
 
Kim is a sophomore from Tustin, California, majoring in social psychology at Sixth College. She went 34-10 in the regular season and won the MPSF Women's Foil Championship. Kim was third at the regional championship.
 
Randolph is a freshman from Solana Beach, California, majoring in astrophysics at Sixth College. She went 28-8 in the regular season. Randolph was third at the MPSF championship and sixth at the regional championship.
 
Sharma is a senior from San Jose, California, majoring in business psychology at Roosevelt College. He went 32-21 in the regular season and won the NCAA West Regional Men's Epee Championship. Sharma was third at the MPSF championship.
 
UC San Diego has qualified at least one fencer to the National Collegiate Fencing Championships every year since 2001.
 
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.