Buckeyes Capture Three CCFC Individual Crowns

Sunday, February 22

Granville, Ohio

Ohio State

CCFC Championships (Individual)

Buckeyes Capture Three CCFC Individual Crowns

2/22/2026 6:42:00 PM | Fencing

Complete Results

Botello, Berrio and Li earn gold medals

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Three Buckeyes captured individual titles at the 2026 Central Collegiate Fencing Conference individual championships Sunday in Granville, Ohio. Sophomore Natalia Botello defended her women's sabre crown, while freshman Carter Berrio was the men's sabre champion and senior Solin Li won his second men's foil title. In all, 19 Buckeyes earned Top 8 finishes, with 11 reaching at least the semifinals.

Saturday, the Buckeye men won their sixth consecutive CCFC title and the Ohio State women were second. The men claimed all three weapon titles and the women were second in both epee and sabre.

Women's Sabre
Natalia Botello won her second straight CCFC title, entering the tableau as the No. 1 seed. She was undefeated in the first pool round with a +23 indicator and was 5-0 in the second (+17). Botello defeated teammate Arlow Wiggers, the No. 8 seed, in the Table of 8, 15-6, and won over Elaine Lu of Northwestern by the same score in the semifinals. In the final, Botello topped No. 2 seed Sophia Schiminovich, 15-5.

Buckeye Varvara Mankova was the No. 3 seed after pools and advanced to the semifinals with a 15-10 win over her teammate Grace Fan, the No. 6 seed. Mankova dropped her bout to Schiminovich, 15-9, in the semifinals to finish tied for third. Fan placed sixth and Wiggers was eighth.

Ohio State has now claimed three CCFC women's sabre championships. Julieta Toledo, now an assistant coach, was the gold medalist in 2023, along with Botello's two crowns.

1. Natalia Botello
3t. Varvara Mankova
6. Grace Fan
8. Arlow Wiggers

Women's Epee
Sally Fan was the No. 8 seed after pools and dropped her first bout to No. 1 seed Karen Wang of Northwestern, 15-10, to place eighth.

8. Sally Fan
9. Catherine Zhou
11. Erika Gumagay
16. Klaire Gieleghem
17. Julia Semikin
18. Catherine Popa
20. Gillian Schultz

Women's Foil
Raiyan Moradi-Bidhendi was tied for the fifth seed after pools. She fell to Allison Lee of Northwestern, 15-11, in the first round of the direct elimination and finished seventh.

7. Raiyan Moradi-Bidhendi
11. Alexis Kostelny
12. Masha Cojocari
16. Avery Levy
23. Fara Latifi

Men's Sabre
Freshman Carter Berrio was the No. 2 seed after pools and went on to claim the championship. He defeated teammate and No. 7 seed Hank Bauer, 15-9, in the first round of direct elimination and then topped Eyad Marouf of Wayne State by the same score in the semifinals. In the final, the Buckeye won a close bout against top seed Fourcade Perez of Lawrence, 15-13.

In all, four Buckeyes earned spots in the eight-fencer direct elimination table. Samuel Rightler tied for third. He was the No. 5 seed and defeated teammate Avin Rai, the No. 4 seed, 15-10, in the quarterfinals. Rai finished fifth, with Bauer seventh.

Berrio is the second consecutive Buckeye to win a CCFC men's sabre title after Nolan Williams captured the program's first in 2025.

1. Carter Berrio
3t. Samuel Rightler
5. Avin Rai
7. Hank Bauer
9. Kelly Liu
11. James Schardine

Men's Epee
The semifinals featured three Buckeyes. Jakob Stange was the No. 1 seed and reached the final, downing Cameron King of Wayne State in his first bout, 15-10, and teammate Sami Boumedienne in the semifinals, 15-5. In the final, Stange fell to No. 2 seed Mahmoud Elsayed of Wayne State, 15-7, for the silver medal.

Boumedienne was the No. 4 seed and advanced to the semifinals with a 15-13 win over Detroit Mercy's Arturo Rangel. Buckeye Nowell Gibson was the No. 3 seed and used a one-touch victory over Lawrence's Jack Kropp, 13-12, to earn his semifinal spot. Gibson fell in the semis to Elsayed, 15-11. Boumedienne and Gibson ended tied for third.

2. Jakob Stange
3t. Sami Boumedienne
3t. Nowell Gibson
11. Ayush Shah

Men's Foil
All four men's finalists were Buckeyes with Ohio State fencers earning six of eight spots in the direct elimination table and finishing in the top six spots.

Solin Li claimed his second CCFC title, and first since 2023, defeating teammate Mitchell Huth in the final by one touch, 15-14. Li was the No. 2 seed after pools and defeated Lukas Tsao of Wayne State in his first direct elimination bout, 15-8. In the semifinals, Li prevailed over teammate Lorenzo Mion, the No. 3 seed, 15-14.

No. 5 seed Huth won over his Buckeye teammate Mostafa Tahoun in the first direct elimination round, 15-7, and then prevailed over another Buckeye, No. 1 seed Albert Bagdany, by a touch, 15-14, in the semis. Bagdany opened his tableau with a 15-7 over Wayne State's Mitchell Gatrell, 15-7.

Mion was a 15-12 winner over No. 6 seed Buckeye Samuel Freedman in the quarterfinals. Mion and Bagdany tied for third, with Mostafa fifth and Freedman sixth in the final standings.

1. Solin Li
2. Mitchell Huth
3t. Lorenzo Mion
3t. Albert Bagdany
5. Mostafa Tahoun
6. Samuel Freedman

The Schedule Ahead