ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Catantan, Tan start bid in US NCAA fencing championship

Catantan, Tan start bid in US NCAA fencing championship

Published Mar 25, 2021 04:31 pm
Lance Tan of Sacred Heart University, left, takes a selfie with Sam Catantan of Penn State University upon his arrival in Pennsylvania. The two will debut Friday in the US NCAA Fencing Championship at University Park in Pennsylvania. (Photo from Lance Tan)

Samantha Catantan of Penn State University and Lance Tan of Sacred Heart University are all set for their respective debuts in the US NCAA Fencing Championships starting on Friday, March 26 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pennsylvania.

Catantan and Tan made history as the first two Filipinos to earn spots in the main tournament after their impressive campaigns in the regional invitational events the previous weeks.

The first homegrown Filipino to play for a Division 1 school in the US NCAA, Catantan was nearly unbeaten in the foil event for the Nittany Lions as she proved her worth as a member of Penn State.

The 19-year-old Catantan said that like her previous tournaments, she feels the urge to deliver, which works her favor since she thrives to perform well under pressure.

“It’s mixed emotions for me,” said Catantan, the first Filipino to capture a gold medal during the U-23 Asian Fencing Championship two years ago in Thailand.

“Sobrang kinakabahan talaga pero excited. Ganon po talaga siguro ako, kabado palagi pero I think it helps me a lot, mas focused and ma-ingat ako (I’m nervous but at the same time excited. I’m always like that, I think it helps me a lot so I’m more focused).”

“But for me, I think the Penn State fencing team has put so much effort since the beginning of the semester to prepare for this event, so hopefully we can get good results,” she added.

Lance Tan of Sacred Heart University and Sam Catantan of Penn State University receive these commemorative coins given to participants in the 2021 US NCAA Fencing Championship at University Park in Pennsylvania. (Photo from Lance Tan)

Catantan, a member of the national team who will also target Tokyo Olympic berths next month in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Uzbekistan, will see action as the women’s competitions begin Saturday, March 27 (Sunday, March 28 in the Philippines).

The 20-year-old Tan, on the other hand, is a US-based Filipino fencer who has represented the country in various international competitions, including the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina.

He is making his first stint in the NCAA fencing tournament after the event was scrapped in the calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic where he was supposed to play after he earned a spot.

Tan is also competing in the foil event of the tournament, and men’s action starts Thursday, March 25 (Friday, March 26 in the Philippines), a tough field considering the talent pool from different countries.

“It’s not just the best American NCAA fencers, but there are at least half dozen international fencers who qualified in my event,” said Tan. “We all grew up training and fencing with and against each other in the United States, Europe, Latin America and really all over the world, and we know each other well.”

“It is going to be a great tournament, I've been friends with some of the other qualifiers since I was fencing the under-8 non-sanctioned events. We will all be trying to fence our best, but there will be good sportsmanship.”

The tournament format is fencers in all three weapons – foil, epee, sabre – will compete in the round robin of 5 touch bouts. Then, only the top four fencers will move to the 15 touch bouts for final podium placement.

Related Tags

US NCAA Sam Catantan Lance Tan
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.