WALTHAM, Mass. – Brandeis University recent graduate Tony Escueta of Grand Prairie, Texas, and rising senior Lev BenAvram of Bethesda, Maryland, both of the fencing team, have earned Academic All-America honors, presented by College Sports Communicators (CSC). Esceuta was named to the Academic All-America second team, while BenAvram was on the third team.
 
Honorees on the CSC Academic All-America teams must be at least sophomores in academic standing with a grade-point average of 3.50 or higher. For fencing, which is part of the AAD At-Large program, they also must have competed in four team competitions or placed among the top eight at a conference or regional championship.
 
Escueta and BenAvram are the fifth and sixth fencers in Brandeis history to earn Academic All-America honors. This marks the third-straight year that the Judges have had a fencer named to the At-Large team, with Maggie Shealy '23/MPP '25 earning honors in 2023 and 2024. This is also the first time in Brandeis history that two members of the same team have earned CSC Academic All-America honors in the same year. Overall, they are the 26^th and 27^th Academic All-Americans in Brandeis history, accounting for 36 awards.
 
On the strip, Escueta, a saber fencer, was a three-time NCAA Championship qualifier and two-time United States Fencing Coaches Association All-Division All-American in his career, while earning four USFCA Division III All-America honors. He just missed out on the NCAA Championships this year, finishing 12^th in the Northeast Region after the region's saber allocation was diminished. Escueta was a two-time Division III Men's Saber Fencer of the Year and was named the National Saber Fencer of the Year in 2024. Escueta led the Brandeis men with 50 wins this season.
 
Academically, Escueta posted a 3.84 grade-point average as a triple major in anthropology, politics, and International and Global Studies. He also worked as an Orientation leader, an event coordinator for the Brandeis Southeast Asia Club and worked as an Affordable Housing Intake Coordinator at WATCH CDC.
 
BenAvram was named the Division III Saber Fencer of the Year this year by the USFCA, in addition to earning his third career Division III All-America honor. He was also named an All-Division All-American for the first time, landing on the second team with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA National College Championships at Penn State University last March. He finished 11^th at the NCAA Northeast Regional and posted
 
In the classroom, BenAvram owns a 3.72 GPA as a business major. BenAvram is also a competitor on the national and international stage, currently ranking eighth in the United States in saber according US Fencing.
 
For more information on Brandeis men's fencing, visit our web page at https://brandeisjudges.com/sports/mens-fencing.
 
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