MPSF Adds Fencing in 2021-22 as 10th Sport
Photo: WFC Champion UC San Diego will be 1 of 4 teams featured in the initial MPSF Fencing season.
(Photo Courtesy: UC San Diego Athletics)
MPSF Adds Fencing as 10th Sport in 2021-22 (PDF Release)
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) has announced the addition of men’s and women’s fencing to its list of sponsored sports beginning with the upcoming 2021-22 academic year. The news marks the first time in 11 years the conference has added a sport, when swimming and diving jumped on board for the 2010-11 season. MPSF Fencing will feature the United States Air Force Academy, Stanford University, University of California San Diego, and the University of the Incarnate Word. Each of these four programs enter the MPSF after an historical season in the Western Fencing Conference (WFC), with all four advancing to the NCAA Championships and finishing off record-setting seasons.
The inaugural MPSF Fencing Individual and Team Championships are scheduled for March 13, 2022, hosted by UIW in San Antonio, Texas. The NCAA Regionals will be held the day prior on March 12, also hosted by UIW, with the top-four fencers in each of the three men’s and women’s weapons advancing to the next day’s MPSF Individual Semifinals. There will also be a single combined MPSF Team Championship, in which the four schools will compete in the semifinals followed by those winners battling for a conference title.
“We are extremely excited to add fencing to the MPSF,” says first year MPSF Executive Director Foti Mellis. “This is a sport with a strong Olympic history, and it continues to show fast growth in the United States and around the world.” Starting this year, the WFC will change its name to the “Western Fencing Coalition.” The coalition board will play an integral role in the development of fencing and its “10by30 initiative.” The long-term initiative would put 10 NCAA Western Region Varsity Fencing programs on the map by 2030. “In collaboration with the Western Fencing Coalition, the MPSF looks forward to promoting and supporting our programs and further developing the sport out west,” Mellis added.
Contested at Air Force in 2021, the UC San Diego women won their sixth conference title in the last seven years, while the Triton men claimed their first title in program history. In the NCAA Championships, UC San Diego placed a program-best seventh, and was one of just three teams in the country to send their full squad of 12 competitors, with two athletes from each of the men’s and women’s side competing in all three weapons. The Tritons also came away with three All-American honors. Fencing will be the third sport in which the Tritons compete in the MPSF, joining the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams.
Air Force placed ninth at the NCAA’s, after sending a program record 10 fencers to the national competition. The Falcons turned in their best team finish since 2003. The Academy also partakes in men’s and women’s gymnastics in the MPSF.
Stanford had all five of its 2021 fencers advance to the NCAA Championships, finishing 11th nationally as a team. The Cardinal had all three females plus one male competitor earn All-American honors. Stanford also recorded a program-best .651 individual win percentage (123-66) through the 2021 season. No other university can be found more than Stanford in the MPSF, which also competes in men’s gymnastics, men’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s water polo.
UIW is coming off its highest-ever NCAA finish, placing 14th. The first Cardinals’ program to enter the MPSF, the squad placed four fencers on the All-WFC teams and qualified a school record six for last year’s NCAA’s.
The addition of fencing brings the current total to 33 institutions and 64 teams competing in the MPSF. This past Spring, the conference reached a milestone of 100 total NCAA Division I Team Championships dating back to its initial season in 1992-93.
MPSF Fencing information, including specific championship details, will be forthcoming on the conference website at mpsports.org and on upcoming MPSF Fencing social media pages.