DURHAM, NC – Johns Hopkins faced a tough field at the Beguinet Classic on Saturday, taking on four teams ranked in the top in Division I. The Blue Jays went 0-5 on the day with close losses to Air Force and ninth-ranked Penn State.
 
Hopkins opened the day facing top-ranked Notre Dame and fell to the Irish, 19-8. Alex Pan earned both wins for the Sabre squad, while Josh Sima went 3-0 in a 4-5 loss for the Foil squad. And in the Epee, Jorge Gana and Ethan Insler combined for the Jays' two wins. JHU then took on Air Force and lost a tight 14-13 decision, with the Foil squad earning a 5-4 win. Alex Chterental led the Sabre squad (4-5) with two wins and Gana won each of his three bouts for the Epee squad (4-5). In the Foil, Omar Reyes and Spencer Grossman Smisek won two bouts apiece.
 
The Blue Jays then fell 17-10 to the eighth-ranked and host Duke Blue Devils. Noah Zeng and Sima won two bouts each to lead the Sabre (4-5) and Foil (4-5) squads in close losses. Jamie Knox and Ayan Bhatnagar combined for the Epee squad's two wins. Hopkins then lost to ninth-ranked Penn state, 15-12, with each of the three weapons dropping tight 5-4 decisions. Neil Pandey led the Sabre squad with two wins, while Grossman Smisek did the same in the Foil. And in the Epee, Insler and Knox won two bouts each.
 
Hopkins closed out the day with a 19-8 loss to 11^th-ranked Boston College. Pandey, Pan and Chterental won one bout each in a 6-3 loss by the Sabre squad. Grossman Smisek earned the lone win for the Foil squad. Gana and Knox won two bouts apiece in a 5-4 loss by the Epee squad.
 
Hopkins returns to action on Saturday, February 14 at the MACFA C Round Robin, hosted by Navy.
 
Notes: Grossman Smisek now has 291 career wins, leaving him just nine shy of becoming the fifth Foilist in JHU history with 300 wins • Alex Jeffords moved into a tie for 13^th in program history with 215 career Sabre wins.