Friday's NCAA men's sabre final featured a matchup of top freshmen, with Penn State's Aleksander Ochocki rallying for a 15-14 win over St. John's newcomer Daryl Homer (detailed recap coming later to the CF360 blog). Two other freshmen – OSU's Max Stearns (8th) and SJU's Alejandro Rojas (11th) – also earned All-America honors, by finishing in the top-12.
Aleksander Ochocki (far left) and Daryl Homer
Five teams saw both of their men's sabreists earn All-America status: OSU, SJU, PSU (Daniel Bak reached the semifinals), Notre Dame and Stanford. ND's Avery Zuck (5th) narrowly missed the semifinals while fellow ND sophomore Barron Nydam was 10th. Another pair of sophomores, Lucas Johnson (9th) and Max Murphy (12), collected third team All-America honors while helping boost Stanford's win total.
Ochocki also won a thriller in the semifinals (15-13 vs. his tammate Bak) while Homer punched his ticket to the title bout following a 15-10 semifinal vs. Ohio State senior Mike Momtselidze (who rounded out the first team All-America group). Momtselidze actually was the top seed in the medal round, after going 19-4 in the round-robin with a whopping +60 in total-point indicators (he allowed only 49 points in his 23 five-touch bouts, roughly 2.1 per bout). Ochocki (19-4/+39) placed second in the round-robin, followed by Bak (18-5/+48) and Homer (17-6/+33).
Zuck and Stearns bookended the second team All-America group, with Penn junior Jonathan Berkowsky (6th) and defending champ Jeff Spear of Columbia (7th) joining them in that status. the third-team group included Janson, Nydam, Rojas and Murphy.
Momtselidze – who reached the medal rounds in each of the past three years (4th in '07, runner-up in '08) – was the only men's sabreist to earn All-America honors for the third time. Four others became two-time All-Americans: Bak (3rd in '08), Berkowsky (11th in '08), Spear ('08 champ) and Nydam (6th in '08).
Several former All-Americans failed to finish in the top-12 this time around: Penn junior Andrew Bielen (10th in '07; 13th in '09), Duke senior Peter Truszkowski (10th in '07, 8th in '08; 16th in '09), NYU junior Sam Roukas (22nd in '07, 7th in '08; 17th in '09) and Wayne State sophomore Jakub Gibczynski (6th in '08; 20th in '09).
Ochocki (#7 seed) and Bak (#10) both finished six spots above their seeds, while the Stanford duo each placed significantly higher than their seeds (Janson was the #19 seed, Murphy #20). Harvard freshman Valentin Staller (#6 seed; placed 15th) and Penn's Bielen (#9 seed; placed 13th) both were projected to be 2009 All-Americans, but each finished a couple spots out of the top-12.
2009 NCAA Fencing Men's Sabre Final Standings
First-Team All-Americans
1. Aleksander Ochocki (Penn State, Fr.; Clark, NJ) ... 19-4/+39 ..... (#7 seed)
2. Daryl Homer (St. John's, Fr.; Bronx, NY) ... 17-6/+33 ..... (#1 seed)
3. Mike Momtselidze (Ohio St., Sr.; Overland Park, MO) ... 19-4/+60 ... (#2 seed) ... 4th in '07, 2nd in '08
4. Daniel Bak (PSU, Jr.; Franklin Lakes, NJ) ... 18-5/+48 ..... (#10 seed) ..... 3rd in '08
Second Team All-Americans
5. Avery Zuck (Notre Dame, So.; Beaverton, OR) ... 17-6/+30 ..... (#3 seed)
6. Jonathan Berkowsky (Penn, Jr.; Philadelphia, PA) ... 17-6/+29 ..... (#8 seed) ..... 11th in '08
7. Jeff Spear (Columbia, Jr.; Wynantskill, NY) ... 17-6/ +26 ..... (#5 seed) ..... '08 champion
8. Max Stearns (OSU, Fr.; Minneapolis, MN) ... 16-7/+23 ..... (#4 seed)
Third Team All-Americans
9. Lucas Janson (Stanford, So.; Stony Brook, NY) ... 14-9/+11 ..... (#19 seed) ..... 15th in '08
10. Barron Nydam (ND, So.; Rancho Santa Fe, CA) ... 13-10/+6 ..... (#11 seed) ..... 6th in '08
11. Alejandro Rojas (SJU, Fr.; Madrid, Spain) ... 13-10/E ..... (#7 seed)
12. Max Murphy (STAN, So.; Overland Park, KS) ... 11-12/+3 ..... (#20 seed) ..... 19th in '08
Other Entrants
13. Bobby Ziechmann (North Carolina, Sr.; Charlotte, NC) ... 10-13/-12 ..... (#12 seed) ... 21st-16th-18th in '06-'08
14. Andrew Bielen (Penn, Jr.; Philadelphia, PA) ... 9-14/-19 ..... (#9 seed) ..... 10th in '07
15. Valentin Staller (Harvard, Fr.; Old Field, NY) ... 9-14/-21 ..... (#6 seed)
16. Peter Truszkowski (Duke, Sr.; Northfield, IL) ... 8-15/-10 ..... (#14 seed) ..... 10th in '07, 8th in '08
17. Sam Roukas (NYU, Jr.; Milburn, NJ) ... 8-15/-19 ..... (#13 seed) ..... 22nd in '07, 7th in '08
18. Peter Souders (Boston College, Fr.; Silver Spring, MD) ... (#17 seed) ..... 8-15/-21
19. John Stogin (Princeton, So,; Wilmette, IL) ... 7-16/-22 ..... (#23 seed) ..... 20th in '08
20. Jakub Gibczynski (Wayne State, So.; Lodz, Poland) ... 7-16/-24 ..... (#15 seed) ..... 6th in '08
21. Kevin Ziechmann (UNC, So.; Charlotte, NC) ... 6-17/-26 ..... (#21 seed) ..... 24th in '08
22. Adam Austin (Brandeis, So.; Dix Hills, NY) ... 6-17/-35 ..... (#22 seed)
23. Andrew Fischl (Vassar College, So.; Huntington, NY) ... 5-18/-33 ..... (#16 seed) ..... 21st in '08
24. Jon Ott (UC San Diego, So.; Arvada, CO) ... 2-21/-66 ..... (#24 seed)