The country’s top fencer Samantha Catantan placed 11th out of 24 for Penn State University in the women’s foil event of the 2024 US NCAA Fencing Championship on Friday (Saturday in Manila) at the French Field House in Columbus, Ohio.
Catantan, who just recovered from a knee injury, won eight of 16 matches during the final pool stage.
In all, Catantan, considered as the first and so far only ‘homegrown’ Filipino fencer to be given full scholarship by a Division 1 school, tallied a win-loss record of 12-11 in the grueling 5-round action for women’s foil.
Catantan came up with her best round in the third pool stage when she posted a 3-1 card.
Catantan, an accounting student-athlete at PSU, still has a year of eligibility playing in the NCAA in 2025.
“It is a privilege and honor to once again represent Penn State at NCAA for the fourth time,” said Catantan, who started fencing for the school as a rookie in 2021 where she made history by winning all her bouts in the pool round for a 20-0 record and finished with a bronze trophy, in a Facebook post.
That bronze trophy, which also led to her inclusion to the All-America selection, remains the best performance for the 22-year-old Catantan as she missed again on making it to the podium.
Catantan plans to take a master’s degree as she is expected to graduate this May.
In the all-Harvard finals, Jessica Guo defeated Lauren Scruggs, 15-7, to win the gold while the latter got the silver.
Ohio State’s Dariia Myroniuk and Rebeca Candescu of Notre Dame settled for the bronze medal.
During the pool stage, Catantan got past Crystal Quian of Stanford, 5-2, Kristina Petrova of Yale, 5-2; Scruggs, 5-4; Jessica Guo of Harvard, 5-4; Alina Lee of Ohio, 5-3; and Myrioniuk, 5-1.
“It is a privilege and honor to once again represent Penn State at NCAA for the fourth time,” Catantan,
Catantan was a silver medal winner in the SEA Games in 2017 and had a bronze medal during the Manila SEA Games in 2019, where she claimed her first gold medal in the biennial meet in 2021 (held in 2022) in Vietnam.
She underwent knee operation performed by renowned sports doctor Dr. Raul Canlas after getting injured during the 2022 SEA Games semifinals.
She earlier claimed a spot in the championship rounds by finishing second overall in the Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals at Drew University in New Jersey.
