Men's Fencing Captures MACFA Championship Title for Third Consecutive Year

Published: Sunday, March 6, 2022

The NJIT men's fencing team captured its third consecutive MACFA Championship title while Cristian Candescu and Rourke Hillyer brought home gold in their respective weapons hosted by Drew University Sunday afternoon.

NJIT picked up its third straight title and fourth overall (2016, 2019, 2020, 2022) team MACFA Championship title in the last seven years. The MACFA Championships were not held in 2021 due to COVID.

In a close team overall event out of 13 schools, NJIT combined for 86 team victories to earn first followed by Johns Hopkins (85) and Drew (80).

Two weapons medaled for the Highlanders as the epee and foil squad brought home gold while the saber squad finished sixth.

Candescu paced the foil squad to 33 victories, securing his second straight gold medal (1st at the 2020 MACFA Championships) followed by Thomas Manley (third place) and Kevin Katayama (eighth place).

Hillyer led the epee squad to 29 victories, recording a first-place finish while teammate Brett Bogert recorded a third-place finish (1st at the 2019 MACFA Championship in the men's epee).

In saber competition, Pedro D'Avila picked up a third place finish, leading the squad to 24 total victories.

NJIT will now await selections to the 2022 NCAA Regionals hosted by Princeton on March 12.