• The story of the 2009 IFA men's epee competition has to be Princeton sophomore Mike Elfassy, who apparently would not have even been participating in this event if not for the absence of his classmate Graham Wicas (who placed 3rd at the '08 NCAAs). Elfassy fenced in flight-C – which sends only three fencers to the final-16 direct-elimination – and he went 9-1 in his flight bouts (+19) to finish second in the flight and earn the #15 seed for the DE. ... Elfassy then made an impressive run to the epee final, with his biggest win coming in the round-of-16 against the #2 seed, Penn two-time NCAA qualifier Ben Wieder (15-9). He followed with a 15-8 quartefinal victory over Columbia's Lorenzo Castertano (#10) and then posted a third straight upset (based on DE seed), with a 15-10 semifinal win over NYU's Byron Neslund. ... Harvard fifth-year senior Benji Ungar – the '06 NCAA champion and 2008 Olympic hopeful – was Elfassy's final foe, with the top-seeded Ungar winning the title bout (15-8).
• Princeton has featured an impressive men's epee tradition in recent years, headlined by the likes of Soren Thompson (7th at the 2004 Olympics; '01 NCAA champion, '02 runner-up and 3rd in '05), three other NCAA champions (Henry Kolowrat in '54, Kinmont Hoitsma in '56, Harold Winkman in '95), recent three-time All-American Ben Solomon (3rd at '06 NCAAs) and now Wicas. Princeton fencers had won the IFA men's epee title five times in the past six years (2003-08), but Elfassy ended up one win shy of extending that streak.
• Ungar had to survive three close bouts before the final – first against the Penn duo of Sam Monk in the round-of-16 (15-13) and Jacob Wischnia (#9 seed) in the quartefinals (15-14), followed by a 15-13 semifinal win over Yale All-American Michael Pearce (#4) ... Pearce and Wischnia were the 3-4 finishers in the 2009 Ivy League men's epee round-robin championship (with Ungar finishing atop that group).
• Harvard (+59) and Penn (+52) tied for the IFA men's epee team title (both were 25-5), followed by Princeton (22), NYU (17) and Columbia (16). Wicas certainly could have boosted Princeton's win total, while Columbia likely would have finished higher if All-American Dwight Smith (another '08 Olympic hopeful) had competed at the '09 IFAs. ... In addition to Ungar (who was 9-1/+25 in his flight bouts), Harvard als benefitted from Karl Harmenberg's flight-B results (6-4/+7) and James Hawrot's undefeated run through flight-C (10-0/+21) ... Penn had near perfect results in the A and B flights (Wieder 9-1/+23, Wischnia 10-0/+21), while Monk went 6-4 (+8 ). ... Harvard also tied for the IFA men's epee title in 2008 and has won/tied for the title in four of the past five years (Penn posted its highest finish since '01).
• The men's epee DE was filled with round-of-16 upsets, as the lower-seeded team won five of the eight round-of-16 bouts (including Elfassy's big win over #2-seed Wieder). The other top-4 seeds were able to advance to the quarterfinals, but seeds 5-8 all lost. ... Princeton's Cooper Gegan (the Ivy League's second-place finisher) improved on his #12 seed by defeating his teammate Nate Sulat (#5) in a 15-7 bout. ... NYU's Andrew Stanco (#11) added a 15-11 win over Vassar's Zach Pattison-Gordon (#6), while Columbia's Castertano beat his All-America teammate Maz Czapanskiy (#7) by the same score. ... Penn's Wischnia registered the final first-round upset, posting a 15-9 victory over MIT's Matt Gethers (#8).
• The results went more to form in the quarterfinals, with wins from #1 Ungar, #3 Neslund (15-10 vs. Stanco) and #4 Pearce (15-14 vs. Gegan) – plus Elfassy's second upset win of the day.
IFA Men's Epee Round-of-16
(1) Benji Ungar (HARV) def. (16) Sam Monk (Penn) ... 15-13
(15) Mike Elfassy (PRIN) def. (2) Ben Wieder (Penn) ... 15-9
(3) Byron Neslund (NYU) def. (14) James Hawrot (BC) ... 15-12
(4) Michael Pearce (Yale) def. (13) John Choi (MIT) ... 15-3
(12) Cooper Gegan (PRIN) def. (5) Nate Sulat (PRIN) ... 15-7
(11) Andrew Stanco (NYU) def. (6) Zach Pattison-Gordon (VAS) ... 15-11
(10) Lorenzo Castertano (COL) def. (7) Max Czapanskiy (COL) ... 15-11
(9) Jacob Wischnia (Penn) def. (8) Matt Gethers (MIT) ... 15-9
Quarterfinals
(4) Michael Pearce (Yale) def. (12) Cooper Gegan (PRIN) ... 15-14
Semifinals
(1) Benji Ungar (HARV) def. (4) Michael Pearce (Yale) ... 15-13
(15) Mike Elfassy (PRIN) def. (3) Byron Neslund (NYU) ... 15-10
Final
(1) Benji Ungar (HARV) def. (15) Mike Elfassy (PRIN) ... 15-8
1. Benji Ungar (HARV) ... #1 DE seed ... 9-1 in flight-A (+25)
2. Mike Elfassy (PRIN) ... #15 DE seed ... 9-1 in flight-C (+19)
3. Byron Neslund (NYU) ... #3 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-A (+13)
3. Michael Pearce (Yale) ... #4 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-A (+12)
5. Jacob Wischnia (Penn) ... #9 DE seed ... 10-0 in flight-B (+21)
6. Lorenzo Castertano (COL) ... #10 DE seed ... 8-2 in flight-B (+13)
7. Andrew Stanco (NYU) ... #11 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-B (+7)
8. Cooper Gegan (PRIN) ... #12 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-B (+6)
9. Ben Wieder (Penn) ... #2 DE seed ... 9-1 in flight-A (+23)
10. Nate Sulat (PRIN) ... #5 DE seed ... 6-4 in flight-A (-1)
11. Zach Pattison-Gordon (VAS) ... #6 DE seed ... 3-5 in flight-C (-12)
12. Max Czapanskiy (COL) ... #7 DE seed ... 3-7 in flight-A (-11)
13. Matt Gethers (MIT) ... #8 DE seed ... 3-7 in flight-A (-12)
14. John Choi (MIT) ... #13 DE seed ... 6-4 in flight-B (+8)
15. James Hawrot (BC) ... #14 DE seed ... 10-0 in flight-C (+27)
16. Sam Monk (Penn) ... #16 DE seed ... 6-4 in flight-C (+8)
2009 IFA Men's Epee Final Team Standings
1. Pennsylvania 25-5 (+52) ... Ben Wieder 9-1, Jacob Wischnia 10-0, Sam Monk 6-4
3. Princeton 22-8 (+24) ... Nate Sulat 6-4, Cooper Gegan 7-3, Mike Elfassy 9-1
4. NYU 17-13 (+5) ... Byron Neslund 7-3, Andrew Stanco 7-3, Ricky Woodward 2-2, Brian Wang 1-5
5. Columbia 16-14 (+3) ... Max Czapanskiy 3-7, Lorenzo Castertano 8-2, Sean Leahy 5-5
6. Vassar 14-16 (-8) ... Zach Pattison-Gordon 3-5, Raphael Radna 2-0, Nick Johnson 3-7, Brian Rouse 6-4
7. Boston College 11-19 (-16) ... Corin Porter 1-9, John Choi 6-4, Peter Lowe 4-6
8. MIT 11-19 (-25) ... Matt Gethers 3-7, Gabriel Chan 2-8, Carter Chang 6-4
9. Brandeis 10-20 (-22) ... Will Bedor 2-8, Alex Clos 4-6, Damien Lehfeldt 2-2, Jared Shackelford 2-4
10. Yale 8-22 (-30) ... Michael Pearce 7-3, Tom Bell 1-7, Matt Lee 0-2, Bo Qu 0-1, Alex Cohen 0-9
11. Brown 6-24 (-42) ... Andrew Pintea 3-7, Toby Cohen 1-9, Henry Liu 2-8