Filipino fencer Sam Catantan of Penn State University capped her debut in the US NCAA Fencing Championship with a bronze finish Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania.
The fencing sensation, the first homegrown Filipino to compete for a Division 1 school in the tournament, went undefeated in the preliminary rounds with a 20/20 record in the pool bouts.
That gave Catantan the No. 1 spot going to the women’s foil event semifinal.
The 19-year-old Catantan suffered a 15-14 defeat against a more experienced opponent in PSU teammate Lodovica Bicego, the Italian fourth seed who is now in her senior year.
However, the way Catantan fought was a testament of her skills and talent developed through hard work, dedication and resiliency over the years as a member of the University of the East junior’s fencing squad and the national team under her coaches, the Canlas brothers Amat and Chris.
“I’m very happy that I made it to the semifinal of the US NCAA, despite being a freshman, I was able to represent Penn State and of course the Philippines well,” Catantan said Monday in a message exchange with Manila Bulletin.
“I’m thankful to my coaches and teammates here at Penn State, teammates with the national team, my coaches Amat and Chris and everybody with the national team, and to my family and friends for their prayers and support,” added Catantan, who dedicated her campaign to parents Jon and Aileen.
Catantan, gold medal winner in the 2019 Under-23 Asian Fencing Championship, was actually three points away from advancing to the final round when she grabbed a 12-9 advantage on Bicego.
A former member of the Italian Fencing Team, Bicego displayed the type of experience she has since her first tournament in 2018 as she bounced back to level the score at 13-all.
Bicego made it 14-13, but Catantan got a point to equalize at 14-14, before the former delivered the final point that gave her the first spot in the championship round of the collegiate event.
Stefani Deschner of Notre Dame, however, captured the title when she downed Bicego 15-9 in the final. Deschner earned a final spot with a similar 15-9 win over teammate Amita Berthier of Singapore in the other semifinal pairing.
The victories of Deschner and Bicego denied a Catantan-Berthier title duel, or a rematch of the semifinal bout between the two during 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games here.
The two young fencers actually clashed in pool play last Saturday when Catantan came through with a 5-3 victory against the 20-year-old sophomore Berthier. The two are expected to meet again in next month’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) for Asia in Uzbekistan.
In the OQT, only the top fencers in all three categories – sabre, foil, and epee – in the men’s and women’s divisions will advance in the Tokyo Olympics.