Sophomore Valentin Staller, shown here in earlier action, will be one of 12 fencers to represent Harvard at the NCAA fencing championships.

After an impressive performance at the NCAA Northeast Fencing Regionals, Harvard fencers put the team in a good position for next week’s NCAA fencing championships.

In the competition held last Sunday in Providence, R.I., Crimson sophomore swordsman James Hawrot was the team’s best finisher, earning first place in the epee. He went 8-3 in the final round against the toughest opposition in the Northeast for the win after posting a 4-2 and 5-1 record in the first and second rounds, respectively.

“Obviously our best result,” said Harvard fencing coach Peter Brand. “He was very strong.”

In the same division, co-captain Karl Harmenberg finished third, as he also boasted an 8-3 record in the final round after going 4-2 in the first round and 3-3 in the second.

“This is a great way for him to finish his career here,” Brand said.

Freshman Ben White also made it to the final round in the epee, coming in at 9th place with a 5-6 record. He was 6-0 in the first round and 5-1 in the second.

In the foil, freshman Tommasso di Robilant finished second, just ahead of his teammate, junior Hao Meng, who finished third.

“[Meng] really came out this year and did what we always though we could do, and that is to qualify for the national championship,” Brand said.

Di Robilant was 8-3 in the final round after going undefeated in the second round and 3-3 in the first. Meng went 7-4 in the final pool, following a 3-3 record in the first and 4-2 in the second.

Co-captain Long Ouyang was 4-2 in the first round before failing to post a win in the second, eliminating him from the competition.

The sabre division saw two Crimson fencers finish in the top ten, as freshman Michael Tom and sophomore Valentin Staller finish seventh and ninth, respectively. Freshman Thomas Kolasa also competed, but was eliminated before the final round.

On the women’s side, sophomore co-captains Noam Mills and Caroline Vloka each finished second in the epee and sabre divisions, respectively.

“Both Noam and Caroline are world-class fencers,” Brand said. “It’s not surprising that they did as well as they have.”

Mills was 8-3 in the final round after going undefeated in the first and second round, finishing 20-3 overall in the competition.

“It was good practice,” Mills said. “I fenced pretty well against all the people I’m going to fence against at NCAA’s.”