Botello Leads Buckeyes at NCAA Regionals

Sunday, March 8

Cleveland, Ohio

Ohio State

NCAA Midwest Regionals

Botello Leads Buckeyes at NCAA Regionals

3/8/2026 9:20:00 PM | Fencing

Results

Sophomore earns women’s saber title

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Natalia Botello captured the women's saber title to pace the Ohio State fencing programs at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships Sunday in Cleveland. Mitchell Huth and Solin Li were second and third, respectively, in foil to lead the Buckeye men. In all, 14 Buckeyes placed in the Top 8 of their respective weapons.

NCAA Championships Up Next

The 2026 NCAA Fencing Championships will be held in South Bend, Ind., hosted by Notre Dame.
For the first time since the NCAA began sponsoring women's sports, separate men's and women's fencing team championships will be awarded. The women's event will be held March 19-20, with the men competing March 21-22.
The athletes selected for the 2026 NCAA Championships will be announced on NCAA.com March 10.
Qualification to the NCAA Championships is based on regular season results and NCAA regional finish. No more than two fencers per gender per weapon from a school may be selected.

Women's Sabre
Natalia Botello, the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference champion, continued her outstanding postseason with the saber title. As a freshman in 2025, she was the silver medalist at NCAA Regionals, moving up a spot this season. Botello was 5-1 in the first pool (+16 indicator) and 9-2 (+25) in the second pool to take first place. The other three Buckeye competitors reached the second pool and notched Top 9 finishes.

1. Natalia Botello
7. Grace Fan
8. Arlow Wiggers
9. Maria Alexe

Women's Foil
Raiyan Moradi-Bidhendi and Lira Cannon both advanced to the second pool and finished in the Top 10.

9. Raiyan Moradi-Bidhendi
10. Lira Cannon
13. Masha Cojocari

Women's Epee
Gloria Klughardt led the Buckeyes with a fifth-place finish, helped by a 6-5 mark in the final pool. All four Buckeyes advanced to the third and final pool.

5. Gloria Klughardt
7. Sally Fan
11. Marie-Frederique Millette
12. Julia Semikin

Men's Saber
In men's saber, the three Buckeyes finished in the Top 11. Carter Berrio and Avin Rai were both 5-6 in the second round of pools and finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

6. Carter Berrio
7. Avin Rai
11. Samuel Rightler

Men's Foil
All four Buckeyes in men's foil finished in the Top 6. Mitchell Huth was second, with Solin Li third. Foil featured one pool and Huth (+31 indicator) and Li (+27) were both 10-2 on the day.

2. Mitchell Huth
3. Solin Li
4. Albert Bagdany
6. Lorenzo Mion

Men's Epee
Four Buckeyes advanced to the final pool and finished in the Top 9. Viktor Kulcsar was fifth to lead the Buckeye epee squad, with a 6-4 mark in the final pool (+14 indicator).

5. Viktor Kulcsar
6. Matthew Buelau
7. Jakob Stange
9. Ayush Shah
16. Nowell Gibson