CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Notre Dame men’s fencing program won the 2026 NCAA Men’s Fencing Championship on Sunday, March 22, at the Joyce Center in South Bend, Indiana. This marks the Fighting Irish’s first men’s team championship, as the event shifted to separate men’s and women’s team championships this season. Notre Dame won 14 co-ed national championships, including six of the last eight under head coach Gia Kvaratskhelia (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025), and also earned the women’s team national championship on Friday, March 20.
The team national championship is the fifth earned by an ACC program this school year and the third in the last three days, with the Irish’s women’s fencing title on Friday and Virginia’s women’s swimming and diving sixth straight NCAA crown on Saturday. In the fall, NC State’s women’s cross country team and Florida State’s women’s soccer program earned national championships.
Notre Dame scored 91 points to take the men’s team title over second-place Columbia/Barnard (81). Duke and North Carolina also earned top-10 team finishes, with the Blue Devils finishing sixth with 44 points and UNC picking up seventh with 43 points. Boston College was 14th with 30 points, and Stanford was 15th with 28 points.
Two ACC fencers won individual national championships on Sunday. North Carolina’s Youssef Shamel won the Tar Heels’ first individual national championship in 43 years, earning the épée crown after downing Notre Dame’s Kruz Schembri, 15-7, in the championship bout.
Notre Dame’s Ahmed Hesham earned the sabre individual national championship, downing Adham Moataz of St. John’s, 15-12, in the championship bout.
Twenty ACC fencers competed in the event, with 10 earning All-America honors. Five Notre Dame fencers claimed individual All-America honors, while North Carolina had three honorees. Duke and Stanford each had one All-America honoree.
The championships included individual events in each of three weapons (épée, foil, sabre). First-team All-America honors are awarded to those finishing in the top four of each event. Second-team laurels go to those finishing in positions five through eight, while honorable-mention honors are awarded to positions nine through 12.
2026 NCAA Men’s Fencing Championships
Final Standings
1. Notre Dame, 91
2. Columbia/Barnard, 81
3. St. John’s, 63
4. Harvard, 62
5. Penn, 58
6. Duke, 44
7. North Carolina, 43
8. Long Island, 40
9. Princeton, 37
10. Ohio State, 37
14. Boston College, 30
15. Stanford, 28
ACC All-Americans
Epee
1. Youssef Shamel, North Carolina
2. Kruz Schembri, Notre Dame
Foil
2. Chase Emmer, Notre Dame
T3. Peter Bruk, North Carolina
5. Ziyuan Chen, Notre Dame
8. Abdelrahman Tolba, Duke
12. Sanjay Kasi, Stanford
Sabre
1. Ahmed Hesham, Notre Dame
7. Radu Nitu, Notre Dame
11. Elden Wood, North Carolina