PHILADLPHIA, PA – Four Blue Jays finished in the top-15 at the 44^th annual Coach Nikki Franke Classic Sunday in Johns Hopkins season opener. Freshman Darius Kim and sophomore Ethan Insler placed in the top-15 in the Epee and graduate student Sam Roberts and sophomore Leonid Kotov did the same in the Sabre.
 
Kim finished in a tie for 11^th, out of 104 fencers in the Epee. He went 5-3 in pool play and then went 2-1 in the elimination round. He lost in the round of 16 to the number two seed and finished the day with a 7-4 record. Insler went 4-4 in pool play and also went 2-1 in the elimination round, bowing out in the round of 16. He finished the day with a 6-5 record.
 
Sophomore Jorge Gana took 20^th place in the Epee as he went 6-4 on the day. He went 5-3 in pool play and then 1-1 in the elimination round. Junior Matthew Dao finished in 44^th place with a 4-5 record on the day. He finished pool play with a 4-4 mark in then lost in his first bout in the elimination round.
 
Roberts took 12^th place, out of 83 fencers, in the Sabre. He finished pool play with a 7-1 record and then advanced to the round of 16 in elimination to go 9-2 on the day. Kotov finished just two spots back in 14^th place with a 6-4 record. He went 4-3 in pool play and made it to the round of 16 as well, with a 2-1 record in elimination.
 
Junior Alex Jeffords finished in a tie for 21^st place and freshman Alex Pan placed 29^th as they each went 7-4 on the day. Both Jeffords and Pan went 6-4 in pool play and then 1-1 in the elimination round. Freshman Neil Pandey took 44^th place after going 4-4 in pool play and then losing in the first round of elimination. Sophomore Miles Zhou finished in a tie for 52^nd with a 3-6 record. He went 3-5 in pool play and then lost to Jeffords in the first round of elimination.
 
Sophomore Spencer Grossman-Smisek led the Blue Jays in the Foil as he finished in a tie for 24^th, out of 100 fencers. He went 6-2 in pool play and then 1-1 in elimination to finish 7-3 on the day. Senior Alan Zheng took 29^th place, also finishing with a 7-3 record. He was 6-2 after pool play and then went 1-1 in elimination. Freshman Alastair Thompson took 32^nd place with a 7-4 record on the day. He finished pool play with a 5-3 record and then went 2-1 in elimination.
 
Freshman Omar Reyes took 35^th place as he finished with a 6-3 record. He went 6-2 in pool play and then lost his first bout in the elimination round. Sophomore Yi Peng Sha finished in a tie for 36^th with a 7-2 record. He went 7-1 in pool play and then lost in the first round of elimination. Freshman Vir Gogoi placed 48^th with a 5-4 record as he went 5-3 in pool play and dropped his first elimination bout.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Sunday, November 10 at the Vassar Invitational.
 
Notes: Zheng moved into fifth place in Johns Hopkins history with 268 career wins • He needs four wins to move into a tie for fourth • Grossman Smisek is now tied for 18^th with 191 career Foil wins.