Bryce Louie, a fourth-year foil on the men’s fencing team, captured the individual foil national title on Sunday at the 2024 NCAA Fencing Championships in Columbus, Ohio. He is Penn’s first national champion since Michael Mills in 2013 and the University’s first foil national champion since Cliff Bayer in 1997.
Louie, from Los Angeles, defeated teammate and fellow Californian Blake Broszus 15-9 in the final round to win the gold medal. They were two of the four members of the No. 8-ranked men’s fencing team who competed in the Championships; first-year sabre Gian Dhingra finished 15th and first-year epee Joseph Wu placed 12th. Louie and Broszus earned First-Team All-American honors for their performances and Wu was named an All-American honorable mention.
On Saturday, the first day of the Championships, Louie won 12 of 15 bouts and led all 24 fencers at day’s end. He maintained his lead on Sunday, adding seven more victories, and won 19 out of 23 bouts in all.
Louie earned Second-Team All-Ivy honors in the foil and was named First-Team All-Region in the Men’s Mid-Atlantic/South All-Region by the United States Fencing Coaches Association.
First-year epee Grace Hu, fourth-year foil Sabrina Cho, and third-year foil Katina Proestakis Ortiz of the No. 7-ranked women’s fencing team also competed at the Championships. Hu finished 10th, Cho finished 11th, and Proestakis Ortiz placed 14th. Cho and Hu were selected All-American honorable mentions.
