Thursday's five rounds of men's sabre bouting are finished for day-1 at the 2009 NCAAs, with Ohio State enjoying a strong showing as All-American Mike Momtselidza (13-1/+47) and newcomer Max Stearns (12-2/+25) combined for a 25-3 record (including Momtselidze's 5-4 win over Stearns). Momtselidze's only loss today came in a 5-4 bout versus Alejandro Rojas of St. John's. The only other loss for Stearns was a 5-2 bout against Penn's All-American Jonathan Berkowsky.
Among the other top teams with double-digit qualifiers (10-12), Penn State was only one win shy of OSU's pace (24-4) – with 2008 NCAA runner-up Daniel Bak currently in second (12-2/+37) while freshman Aleksander Ochocki is fourth (12-2/+24). St. John's posted 19 wins (11-3/+23 by Haryl Homer, 8-6/ from Rojas), with Homer (5th) in strong contention for a spot in Friday's semifinals (top-4 advance to 15-touch DE bouts, with 11 more round-robin bouts earlier in the day) while Rohas stands in 10th. Columbia's only men's sabre entrant – defending NCAA champ Jeff Spear – currently is 7th, at 10-4 with a +19 in total-points indicators. Notre Dame sophomores Avery Zuck (6th place; 10-4/ +19) and Barron Nydam (7-7/-9) combined for 17 wins.
Ohio State still has plenty of key bouts remaining for Friday, vs. ND, PSU and Spear. The Buckeye duo went 3-1 on Thursday against St. John's, with Momtselidze posting a 5-2 win over Homer (the '09 Northeast Region champion) while Stearns registered the sweep (5-3 vs. Homer, 5-4 vs. Rojas).
Unlike OSU, the ND men's sabreists had plenty of crucial bouts on their plate during Thursday's action, with the pair combining for only a 2-8 record vs. Spear and the fencers from PSU and SJU. Ochocki swept ND (5-1 vs. Nydam, 5-3 vs. Zuck), while Bak edged Zuck (5-4) but lost a 5-3 bout to Nydam. Spear shut out Nydam (5-0) and completed the sweep of ND by holding off Zuck, 5-4. SJU's Homer also swept the Irish (5-2 vs. Nydam, 5-3 vs. Zuck), with Rojas also topping Nydam (5-2) while losing to Zuck by the same score.
In addition to the key team-score bouts listed above, SJU split a pair of 5-3 bouts against Spear (win for Homer, loss by Rojas).
Aside from the fencers mentioned above, other fencers on pace for an All-America finish (top-12) include Stanford's Lucas Johnson (8th; 9-5/+8) and Max Murphy (11th; 7-7/+2), Penn's Berkowsky (9th; 9-5; +7) and UNC veteran Bobby Ziechmann (12th; 7-7/+1). As a reminder, total-point indicators can play a key role – in determining the semifinalists and All-Americans – as they are used to break ties if fencers have the same win total (and same win pct., if applicable).
Penn All-American Andrew Bielen (15th; 6-8/-10) probably is the most noteworthy fencer currently outside the top-12.
2009 NCAA Men's Sabre (day-1 totals; 14 bouts)
Name School V Ind.
1. Mike Momtselidze Ohio State 13 +47
2. Daniel Bak Penn State 12 +37
3. Max Stearns Ohio State 12 +25
4. Aleksander Ochocki Penn State 12 +24
5. Daryl Homer St. John's 11 +23
6. Avery Zuck Notre Dame 10 +19
7. Jeff Spear Columbia 10 +19
8. Lucas Janson Stanford 9 +8
9. Jonathan Berkowsky Pennsylvania 9 +7
10. Alejandro Rojas St. John's 8 +0
11. Max Murphy Stanford 7 +2
12. Bobby Ziechmann North Carolina 7 +1
13. Barron Nydam Notre Dame 7 -9
14. Valentin Staller Harvard 6 -10
15. Andrew Bielen Pennsylvania 6 -10
16. Peter Truszkowski Duke 5 -3
17. Jakub Gibczynski Wayne State 4 -15
18. John Stogin Princeton 4 -17
19. Adam Austin Brandeis 4 -20
20. Sam Roukas N.Y.U. 3 -17
21. Kevin Ziechmann North Carolina 3 -17
22. Andrew Fischl Vassar College 3 -19
23. Peter Souders Boston College 2 -28
24. Jon Ott U.C. San Diego 1 -47