Buckeyes to Compete for CCFC Championships This Weekend

Saturday, February 21

Granville, Ohio

Ohio State

CCFC Championships (Team)

Photo by: Ohio State Athletics

Buckeyes to Compete for CCFC Championships This Weekend

2/19/2026 10:04:00 AM | Fencing

Conference championships held in Granville, Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Postseason action begins for the Ohio State fencing programs this weekend at the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference Championships hosted by Denison University in Granville, Ohio. The team competition will be Saturday, with the individual championships Sunday.

Follow Along: Watch | Team Scoring (Saturday) | Individual Results (Sunday)

Ohio State Schedule
Saturday | Team Championships

No. 7 Women
8:30 a.m. - Detroit Mercy
10:50 a.m. - Lawrence
12:30 p.m. - Cleveland State
1:40 p.m. - Denison
2:50 p.m. - Wayne State
4 p.m. – No. 6 Northwestern

No. 5 Men
9:40 a.m. - Detroit Mercy
10:50 a.m. - Cleveland State
12:30 p.m. - Lawrence
1:40 p.m. - Wayne State

Sunday
Individual Championships
8 a.m. - Women's Competition
12:30 p.m. - Men's Competition

Ohio State and the CCFC

This is the sixth year of the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference.
Ohio State's men have won five consecutive team titles (2021-25), while the women have four championships - three outright (2022-23, '25) and a shared title (2021).
In year one, no postseason event was held because of the pandemic-altered schedules during the 2021 season. Conference champions were determined by winning percentage during the regular season against conference opponents. The Buckeyes won the men's team championship and shared the women's team title with Northwestern. Ohio State captured the men's sabre and women's epee outright squad titles, while men's epee, men's foil and women's sabre were co-champions.
In 2022 and 2023, Ohio State claimed both the men's and women's team titles. The Buckeyes captured the women's sabre, men's and women's foil and men's epee titles both of those years, as well as the men's sabre crown in 2022 and the 2023 women's epee championship.
In 2024, the Buckeyes were the men's champion and the men swept the team titles in all three weapons. The women finished second as a team and women's foil captured the squad title.
Last season, the men and women both claimed the team titles. The men swept the weapon championships and the women captured the foil crown. In the individual events, Ohio State captured all three women's titles and won two men's gold medals. In all, 22 Buckeyes finished in the Top 8 of their respective weapons.
Current Buckeyes Gloria Klughardt (epee) and Natalia Botello (sabre) enter the weekend as the defending champion in their event and Arlow Wiggers was eighth in sabre last year.
Among current men, Samuel Rightler (sabre), Kelly Liu (sabre), Eddie Maklin (sabre), Avin Rai (sabre), Hank Bauer (sabre), Solin Li (foil), Lorenzo Mion (foil), Samuel Freedman (foil), Mitchell Huth (foil), Nowell Gibson (epee), Ayush Shah (epee) and Viktor Kulcsar (epee) all had Top 8 finishes in 2025.

Buckeye This and That

The men's squad was ranked fifth in the midseason USFCA poll and the women were seventh.
Overall this year, the men have posted a 21-14 record. The epee squad leads the way with a 28-7 ledger, with foil 22-13 and sabre 15-20.
Viktor Kulcsar paces men's epee with 46 dual victories this season, followed by Jakob Stange and Sami Boumedienne with 44 and 40, respectively. In men's foil, Solin Li is first with 48 dual wins, Lorenzo Mion has posted 43 and Mitchell Huth has 41. In sabre, Samuel Rightler leads the squad with 33 wins, Carter Berrio has 32 and Avin Rai has 26.
The women have compiled a 26-14 mark. Epee is 29-11, with sabre 26-14 and foil 17-23.
Gloria Klughardt is first for the women's epee squad with 56 wins, followed by Sally Fan with 45, Julia Semikin with 38 and Marie-Frederique Millette with 34. In sabre, Natalia Botello is first with 61 victories in dual bouts. Grace Fan is second with 29 and Maria Alexe is third with 25. In foil, Masha Cojocari ranks first with 42, while Raiyan Moradi-Bidhendi has 39, followed by Lira Cannon with 23 and Alexis Kostelny with 21.

The Schedule Ahead

Cleveland State will host the NCAA Regionals March 8.
The NCAA Championships will be hosted by Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., March 19-22. The women's championships will be the first two days, with the men the second two.