Fencing Earns Podium Finishes, Rowan Moore '26 Leads with Repeat Title
St. Paul Academy & Summit School’s fencing team delivered an impressive performance at the 2026 state meet, highlighted by a repeat championship from captain Rowan Moore ’26 and a runner-up finish from fellow captain Yassin Mokbel ’26.
The weekend began at the Minnesota State Team Relay on Saturday, Feb. 28, at Two Rivers High School, followed by the Minnesota State High School Championship on Sunday, March 1, at the Twin Cities Fencing Club.
Moore, a 2025-2026 captain, successfully defended their women’s saber state title on Sunday, earning first place and repeating as state champion. The back-to-back championship marks a tremendous accomplishment and solidifies Moore’s place among the state’s top competitors. They also helped lead the women’s saber squad, alongside Aurelia Kidder ’30 and Kate Gao ’30, to a second-place finish in Saturday’s team relay competition. Gao added a sixth-place finish in the individual women’s saber event.
On the men’s side, Mokbel capped his senior season with a second-place finish in men’s saber at the individual state championship. Battling injuries throughout the season, Mokbel showed resilience and determination, advancing to the final and finishing runner-up by just one touch. He also helped power the men’s saber team, with Jeremiah Chi ’27, Ethan He ’26, and Phillippe Cristobal ’26, to a second-place finish in the team relay.
The Spartans saw strong performances across all weapons in the team relay:
Men’s Foil, 7th place: Griffin Roy ’27, Dhru Chaney ’29, Allan Wang ’26, Jack Gordon ’28
Women’s Epee, 6th place: Phoebe Rubenstein ’29, Alexie Kidder ’30, Julia Lau ’30
Men’s Saber, 2nd place: Mokbel, Chi, He, Cristobal
Women’s Saber, 2nd place: Moore, Kidder, Gao
Men’s Epee, 5th place: Mikael Halloran ’30, Baron Bailey ’28, Henry Stenzel ’29, August Kidder ’29
Women’s Foil, 2nd place: Noukou Asha Nepal ’30, Annika Kim, Maggie Roy ’30
The women’s foil squad’s runner-up finish was especially significant, marking the program’s best result in that event since head coach Dong-Ying (Sasha) Pai began coaching at SPA in 2015.
Overall team standings, calculated based on the total points from each program’s top four finishers in the individual events, placed the Spartans third overall on the men’s side and second overall on the women’s side.
“I’m incredibly proud of how our team performed at the state meet and throughout the season,” Sasha said. “Rowan’s women’s sabre championship and successful title defense was a tremendous achievement. I’m especially proud of captain Yassin, who battled injuries all season and showed remarkable resilience to reach the final and finish runner-up by just one touch. Our women’s foil squad also made program history, earning the No. 2 seed and advancing to the final to place second, the best result since I began coaching at SPA in 2015. The girls worked extremely hard together all season, and this result truly reflects their commitment and teamwork.”
Congratulations, SPA Fencing!
