WALTHAM, Mass. – For the third year in a row, Brandeis University junior saber fencer
Lev BenAvram of
Bethesda, Maryland, has been selected to compete in the NCAA National Collegiate Fencing Championships, which will be held March 20-23 at Penn State University.
BenAvram was the Judges' top fencer this year by winning percentage, going 30-9 during dual meets and posting a losing record just twice against 13 opponents. He finished 11
th at the NCAA Northeast Regionals this past weekend, going 4-2 in each of the first two pools of action to reach the final 12 as the eighth seed. Though he won just two of his matches in the finals, BenAvram's status as a high overall seed and the combination of teams with more than two fencers ahead of him secured his spot at NCAAs.
BenAvram finished 16
th overall at the 2023 NCAA Championships, when he went 10-11 and finished just out of a top-12 spot that would have earned him All-Division All-America status. He was still named a Division III first-team All-American and the National Collegiate Newcomer of the Year by the United States Fencing Coaches Association.
BenAvram also earned Division III All-American distinction last year, when he was selected to compete at NCAAs but chose to compete instead at an international World Cup event in Budapest, Hungary, to boost his chances at qualification for the 2024 Olympics. Though he did not achieve that goal, BenAvram is currently ninth in the United States in the rolling standings and seventh in the team standings in search of a berth at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
The men's competition will take place on March 20 and 21 at Penn State. There will be four rounds of round-robin competition between the 24 fencers selected in each weapon on Day 1, then three more on Day 2. The top four will face off in a direct elimination for the individual championship.
BenAvram is a 2022 graduate of Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School.
For more information on Brandeis men's fencing, visit our web site at
https://brandeisjudges.com/sports/mens-fencing.
