SAN ANTONIO — The fencing postseason kicked off on Saturday with the NCAA West Regional Championship on the campus of Incarnate Word in Texas. Six individual titles were handed out, with UC San Diego's Sunny Sharma winning the men's epee championship for the second-straight year.
 
Sharma also earned an automatic bid to the National Collegiate Fencing Championships as regional champion.
 
The west region consists of UC San Diego, Air Force, Incarnate Word and Stanford. Each school was allowed to enter up to four fencers in each event. A pool play format was used, with each fencer facing each other once.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons went one-two in men's epee, with freshman Nurzhan Abzhanov finishing second. Both Tritons had an 11-1 record. Sharma claimed the top spot thanks to a 5-3 victory over Abzhanov.
 
Abzhanov's fellow freshman Adi Jain also earned a second place finish as he went 10-3 in men's foil. Hananiah So was the Tritons' top finisher in men's saber, placing seventh. The junior had a 5-6 record.
 
On the women's side, two Tritons finished in third. Last year's women's foil champion, Katherine Kim, was third this year after the sophomore finished with a 9-3 record. In women's epee, Natalie Brooke Gebala went 7-3 in her third-place showing, finishing one win behind the champion in a crowded field.
 
Zara Fearns was the Tritons' top finisher in women's saber, placing fourth. The senior went 7-4 to finish behind a trio of Stanford fencers.
 
UC SAN DIEGO RESULTS
Women's Epee
3. Natalie Brooke Gebala
8. Hania Hafeez
9. Bella Balogh
10. Pia Huber
 
Women's Foil
3. Katherine Kim
6. Piper Randolph
7. Alexis Chew
10. Neta Korol
 
Women's Saber
4. Zara Fearns
6. Erenei Ligh
10. Siena Nguyen
 
Men's Epee
1. Sunny Sharma
2. Nurzhan Abzhanov
4. Dayus Gohel
6. Ben Kim
 
Men's Foil
2. Adi Jain
6. Jacob Levy
10. Scott Lao
11. Lucas Zeng

Men's Saber
7. Hananiah So
11. Sam Zubatiy
12. Arthur Bonifield
 
UP NEXT
The Tritons will return to Incarnate Word's McDermott Convocation Center tomorrow for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship. The action begins at 7:00 a.m. PT, with a live stream available HERE and live results available HERE. UC San Diego is the defending team champion on both the men's and women's side.
 
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.