COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sophomore Ketki Ketkar saw her fantastic run at the 2024 NC Fencing Championships come to a close in the first semifinal on Friday afternoon from St. John Arena. Ketkar, who made her first appearance at the fencing championships, becomes the first Big Red fencer to collect a bronze medal or better since Victoria Wines made the semifinals of the 2015 championships, also hosted by Ohio State.
Coming into Friday's final two rounds of round-robin competition, Ketkar sat in second place and tied with Harvard's Emily Vermeule with the most wins at eleven. The sophomore kept the momentum from Thursday's first three rounds rolling into round four, grabbing a 3-1 record with wins over two Princeton fencers in Ariana Rausch (2-1) and Jessica Lin (4-3) and St. John's Elisa Treglia (5-4). Ketkar kept it going into the final round-robin action of the championships, rebounding from an early 5-4 loss to Stanford's Irene Yeu to rip off three consecutive wins over two Fighting Irish fencers in Michaela Joyce (5-4) and Amanda Prikowski (2-1) before closing the final round with a 5-4 win over U.C. San Diego's Renee Zuhars to close out the competition with 17 total wins to earn the No. 1 seed heading into the semifinals.
Ketkar would square off with another Ivy League fencer in Columbia's Tierna Oxenreider in the semifinals. Both fencers went back and forth to open competition, as both fencers were tied at one touch each with 0:31 seconds to go in the first round. Oxenreider got the final touch of the opening three minutes a second later to grab a 2-1 lead after the first round. Oxenreider would push her lead to 4-2, making Ketkar go on the offensive. The aggressiveness played into Oxenreider's favor, outtouching Ketkar, 4-3, to take an 8-5 lead leading into the final round. The sophomore tried her best to mount a comeback, but her run at the championships ended in a 15-7 decision for Oxenreider.
Additionally, Isabela Carvalho and Stella Berman hit the strip in sabre for the final two rounds, finishing 16th and 19th, respectively. As a team, Cornell finished in 11th place, its highest overall spot in the team standings since earning 9th at the 2022 championships.
Overall, Ketkar finished with a 17-6 record with a +14 touch differential and tied Wines for the highest finish at the championships in program history. Additionally, Ketkar becomes the 11th fencer in program history to earn a first team All-American nod, joining Kathy Stevenson (1972), Peggie Walbridge (1972-74), Michelle Sonnenfeld (1980), Christine Hamori (1982, 84), Meghan Phair (2003-04), and Wines (2015).
Cornell has won seven individual national championships in women's fencing, with the last one coming from Kim Charlton '94, who won the foil title at the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) Championship, which existed before the NCAA tournament.
