Wood Bests 2016 Olympic Silver Medalist To Claim April NAC Title

RICHMOND, Va – Carolina fencing had an all-around great weekend at the North American Cup as four fencers finished in the top ten of the respective events at the April NAC.

Elden Wood‘s championship the Peter Westbrook Division 1 Men’s Sabre event highlighted the weekend.

Wood had a solid round pool action, earning the number 36 overall seed. Wood opened up with a convincing 10-point victory over Dylan Yang. He followed that up with another victory, beating the number 29th-ranked fencer by five points.

In the round of 32, Wood squared up against Andrei Nazlymov, a freshman from Air Force and the number four seed, and took him down 15-12. As the field shrank, the competition grew fiercer. In the Round of eight, Elden Wood came out on top against the 2026 Cadet World Champion. After besting the World Champion, Wood beat Darii Lukashenko, the 2025 NCAA Sabre National Champion from St. John’s, by four points, which pitted him against the 2016 Olympic Silver medalist, Daryl Homer, in the gold medal bout. The bout went back and forth with multiple lead changes until Wood pulled away at the end, winning 15-13, securing the championship in the Peter Westbrook Division 1 Men’s Sabre championship.

Peter Bruk came into the Division 1 Men’s Foil direct elimination round as the number one seed, earning a B.Y.E. Once Bruk entered the competition, he took down Alan Zheng, a fencer from Johns Hopkins, by nine points. Bruk won his next two bouts by seven and eight points, before he fell to James Bourtis, a fencer from Columbia, in the round of eight by one point, 15-14.

Just like Bruk, Vasko Atanassov came into the D.E. portion highly seeded as he was tied for second. Atanassov opened with a three-point victory in the round of 128, but responded with a dominant eleven-point victory and then brought home three more victories as he finished tied for third.

Mariasole Capellua continued her incredible sophomore season as she finished eighth in Division 1 Women’s Sabre. Capellua won her first bout of the afternoon portion of the D.E.s. Capellua improved, winning her next bout by double digits. The sophomore won two more bouts before falling in the round of eight.

Results

Friday

Division 1 Men’s Foil

5. Peter Bruk

30. Ivan Radoslavov

Division 1 Women’s Sabre

18. Dagny Johnson

24. Samantha Maryash

26. Sophia Kovacs (Alumni)

Saturday

Division 1 Men’s Sabre

1. Elden Wood