Dabrowa Named a Finalist for USFCA Award
5/6/2023 1:24:08 PM | Fencing
For the second year in a row, Katarzyna Dabrowa, Ohio State fencing associate head coach, is a finalist for the United States Fencing Coaches Association Men’s Team Collegiate Assistant Coach of the Year award. She was the 2022 recipient of the honor.
The finalists were selected from member nominations of athletes and coaches from across NCAA divisions. Award winners will be selected by a vote of USFCA collegiate member coaches and announced during the week of May 8.
Dabrowa, the primary weapon coach for the Ohio State epee squad, helped lead the Buckeye men to the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference men’s team title and the men’s epee and foil squad crowns. Ohio State men took the Top 7 spots in epee in the CCFC individual championships. At the NCAA Championships, the Buckeyes finished fifth as a team, with five men’s and five women’s qualifiers. For the men, Paul Veltrup ended as the national runner-up and Henry Lange placed 14th in epee. Ohio State men also captured two Top 12 finishes in foil and had a sabre semifinalist. This spring she also was the main organizer of the gala to celebrate 100 years of Ohio State fencing (story).
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Beyond NCAA fencing, Dabrowa has helped coach epee squad members to high standing within USA Fencing, including members of the Junior National Team, Junior National Travel Squad and Senior National Travel Squad.
Dabrowa, a fencer at Ohio State from 2011-13, returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach in 2018, the youngest female assistant coach in NCAA Division I fencing when she was hired, and was promoted to associate head coach in October 2021. She was a co-captain of the 2012 NCAA championship team and was the first Buckeye to win a NCAA title in women’s epee. She was recently recognized as one of the top women in Ohio State athletics history during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX (Story).
During Dabrowa’s first four years on the Buckeye staff, Ohio State was the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference men’s champion and women’s champion in 2022 and won the men’s title while sharing the women’s in 2021. The Buckeyes claimed the men’s and women’s Midwest Fencing Conference titles in 2020 and won the overall MFC team title in 2019, when Ohio State placed sixth at the NCAA Championship as a team. Dabrowa coached Oliver Shindler to the 2019 NCAA epee championship and Gabriel Feinberg to the 2022 epee crown.
