NCAA Championships 2019 Preview

The 2019 NCAA Championships begins tomorrow, March 21st 2019 and ends Sunday March 24 and will be partially televised on ESPN3 this year. This article is a quick reference guide and round-up on schedules, when to watch on TV and how to participate!

This year’s event will be taking place at the Wolstein Center on the campus of Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio and hosted by the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission. Tickets are still available here for anyone interested in dropping by in person.

2019 Championships Overview

This year, Columbia, Harvard, Notre Dame and Penn State are the only 4 teams to field a maximum sized team of 12 fencers each. This gives them the maximum possible pool bouts, 276, and therefore the best opportunity to earn the most team points. Next in line are Duke, Ohio State, St. John’s, and Yale, each with 10 fencers for a 230 possible point cap.

Last year’s champions, Notre Dame, won with 185 team points – 15 points over the second place Columbia team. Last year’s third place team, Ohio State, didn’t qualify a full 12 fencers, so their odds of repeating a top finish are slimmer but still achievable given third place last year was 147 points out of their total possible 230 points this year.

Event Schedule

All times are in Eastern.

Thursday, March 21
9:00AM – Men’s Foil Rounds 1-3
11:00AM – Men’s Epee Rounds 1-3
1:30PM – Men’s Saber Rounds 1-3

Friday, March 22
9:00AM – Men’s Foil Rounds 4, 5
9:00AM – Men’s Epee Rounds 4, 5
9:00PM – Men’s Saber Rounds 4, 5
1:00PM – Men’s Semifinal and Championship Bouts (fenced in the order of epee, foil, saber)
Awards will immediately follow the championship bouts.

Saturday, March 23
9:00AM – Women’s Foil Rounds 1-3
11:00AM – Women’s Epee Rounds 1-3
1:30PM – Women’s Saber Rounds 1-3

Sunday, March 24
9:00AM – Women’s Foil Rounds 4, 5
9:00AM – Women’s Epee Rounds 4, 5
9:00PM – Women’s Saber Rounds 4, 5
1:00PM – Women’s Semifinal and Championship Bouts (fenced in the order of epee, foil, saber)
Awards will immediately follow the championship bouts.

Television/Streaming Schedule

Events will be televised on ESPN3 and streamable online here on ESPN.com

Friday, March 22
1:30PM – Men’s Finals Bouts
5:00PM – Awards Presentation

Sunday, March 24
1:30PM – Women’s Finals Bouts
5:00PM – Awards Presentation

Fantasy Fencing & Online Resources

The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission put together a great website with a ton of information on the event, which can be found here.

This year’s fantasy fencing bracket was put together by CyrusofChaos and Besst and can can be found here. It closes soon, though, so hop in while you can!

Live results for the event can be found here. If you’re interested in preparing for you fantasy fencing bracket, you can find the results from the regional events here along with the official Championship results.

You can also find CyrusofChaos’ live updating scoresheet app here. It updates as bouts complete to give you a live updating idea of the running team points.

Disclosure: The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is an advertising customer of Fencing.net but had no impact or input on the content of this article.

NCAA Championships 2019 Preview