By: DANIELA PEREZ LEAL / CHIEF A&E EDITOR
On March 21, LIU junior Mohamed Elsayed won the 2025 NCAA National championship for men’s epee in Division I college fencing. Mohamed is the second LIU fencer to win an NCAA title and the first man to do so since the program began in the fall of 2022.
The Olympian fencer remained in first place for all five rounds of individual combat. With 18 wins and only four losses, he advanced as the No. 1 seed to the semifinals. There, he faced his brother Mahmoud Elsayed, who attends Wayne State University, winning the bout 15-14 and advancing to the finals.
Elsayed then faced off against Harvard's Henry Lawson, who advanced to the top four in second place with 16 wins during the competition. In a final full of excitement and nerves, Elsayed's energy and fencing wizardry helped him triumph over Lawson, 12-11 and capture the national title.
Elsayed won the NCAA tournament in just his second time participating. He first competed during the 2023 NCAA championships, where he placed third and also received the 2023 First Team All-American award.
Likewise, the title means a lot to LIU head coach Dwight Smith, who took over the team during the 2024 spring semester. Elsayed is the first fencer to achieve this accomplishment during Smith’s first full season as head coach of the team. Smith also coaches and accompanies Elsayed in collegiate and international competitions.
“I feel amazing!” Smith said. “I want to say congrats to Mo for his amazing fencing for the past few days and all year.”
Smith then gave a shout out to both the administrative and social media teams for LIU fencing, expressing his gratitude for supporting the athletes throughout the season.
“I also want to say thank you to the admin who helped support us through all of this stuff, so special shout out to them and all the work they’re doing behind the scenes,” said Smith. “Also a last shout-out to all the team members who supported each other in different ways and did all the grunt work. So I feel great because I have so much support from everybody.”
Originally from Cairo, Egypt, Elsayed was born into a family of fencers. He is a member of the Egyptian national team alongside his two brothers and his father, Dr-Sayed Samy, who serves as the coach of the Egyptian men's epee national team.
At just 22 years old, Elsayed has accumulated many awards. He qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo and went on to win a bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
During the 2025 season, Elsayed placed second at the Temple Open and fifth at the NCAA Regionals held at Tuft University in Boston, Massachusetts on March 9.
Elsayed has been named LIU Athlete of the Year twice and he will graduate with a degree in Data Analytics in 2026. Elsayed’s future is bright and his win reflects more success, not just for him but for the LIU fencing team under head coach Smith.