NORTON, Mass. — Wheaton College (Mass.) men's fencer Phillip Winston Nunnink (Kansas City, Mo.) was named a Northeast Fencing Conference First Team All-Star, while Grant Smith (Oakland, Calif.) was selected to the Second Team, it was announced by the league.
Nunnink and Smith become the first All-Star recipients in school history in the Lyons' inaugural season.
The pair were both chosen following the conference's two-day competition, where each league school competed against each other in six dual matches.
Nunnink was outstanding over the two days, spanning November 23-24 at host Brown University. The rookie posted a dominant 15-3 foil mark for an 83.3% winning percentage to tie for the highest success rate among NEFC All-Star honorees. The Rockhurst High School product dropped his first two bouts against Sacred Heart University on November 23, but rebounded to go 15-1 in his final 16 bouts with his only loss coming at the hands of Boston College. He won his final two bouts against the Eagles and went on to finish with 11 straight victories, including all nine bouts on the second day of competition against No. 7 Vassar College, Brandeis University and No. 4 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A Finance major, Nunnink seemed to get stronger on the second day, dropping a total of just four points in three bouts vs. Vassar and only five points to Brandeis.
For the season, Nunnink has burst onto the collegiate scene. He ranked ninth at the 2024 New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference Big One Invitational at Smith College on November 3 to open the season. He turned in a perfect 6-0 mark in pool competition and earned a victory in the table of 32 over Tufts, before being ousted in the table of 16 by MIT. Nunnink registered a 10-5 mark in five matches at the Drew Invitational on November 4 and was a perfect 6-0 in bouts against Wagner College and Hunter College at the Wagner Invitational on December 1. He currently boasts a 37-8 mark in bouts this season, not including table competition, and has won 17 straight bouts.
Smith earned Second Team status after compiling a 12-6 mark in foil competition. The first year won five of his first six bouts on the opening day at Brown and won seven of nine bouts on the second day of competition, including a streak of five straight wins to finish the two-day event. The Saint Mary's College High School graduate took two of three bouts from Sacred Heart, before sweeping through Wagner on the first day. Smith won two of three bouts on day two against both Vassar and Brandeis, before claiming all three bouts vs. MIT to finish the weekend.
Smith was also impressive at The Big One, ranking 10th. He enjoyed a 6-0 record in pool bouts, before advancing to the table of 16 following a victory over Brandeis, but was toppled by Sacred Heart. The Business major was also 10-5 at the Drew Invitational and won four of six bouts against Wagner and Hunter combined to give him a season mark of 32-13 in non-table bouts.
Wheaton is currently 1-12 in its first season and returns to the strip on Saturday, February 1 when it travels to Evanston, Ill. to compete in the Northwestern Duals at host Northwestern University.
