Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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40 FEBRUARY 2026 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TODD D. BURLAGE A s an important leader of a Notre Dame fencing program that has won four of the last five national champion- ships and 14 NCAA co-ed team titles overall, Irish assistant coach Christian Rascioni is never overly surprised or worried about much each season. But with new competition rules set to take hold this postseason, even the veteran Irish coach isn't sure what to expect this March when Notre Dame hosts the 2026 NCAA Championships to try and defend its 2025 team title. For the first time, the championships this year will feature separate men's and women's competitions with two title trophies awarded, instead of the previ- ous co-ed format with 12 athletes com- peting for Notre Dame, all teamed up to chase one championship banner. Rascioni said these new rules will test his team's depth, and his athletes' nerves. "It's going to be more balanced, and it's going to be much more challenging with this split," Rascioni explained. "Ev- ery single bout was always important, but there was a little bit more room to make mistakes with 12 people competing. Somebody could make up for any mis- takes. Now, you can't make any mistakes. "And especially for the kids, it's go- ing be even more stressful because they know the room to make any mistake is very tight." With an accomplished roster and a practice room that Rascioni called, "definitely the best in the country, and probably one of the best in the world," nerves shouldn't be a problem. "Fortunately, all of these kids compete in the Olympic circuit and the interna- tional circuit," Rascioni said. "They are already intensely challenged and very competitive. "They've all been in many pressure-filled situations, so I expect they'll be able to handle the split. But it will be something different for all of us." Notre Dame loses very little from a roster that rolled to the NCAA team title last year and featured three individual national champions. • Junior Eszter Muhari claimed an in- dividual title in epee last season — her second national championship after winning epee as a freshman in 2023. • Sophomore Magda Skarbonkiewicz won a title in sabre last year, her first individual championship. • And junior Chase Emmer won his first career title in foil last season to become the 48th Irish fencer all-time to win an individual national championship. All three of these All-Americans are back again this year, and ready to lead a group of accomplished returners, rising underclassmen and talented newcomers. "Our wealth of returning experience especially benefits our freshmen, and our second line of athletes who are up and coming," Rascioni said. "They are all locked in to train with very strong teammates and amazing athletes. That level of competition brings better prac- tice training, which helps improve the entire program." All of which makes Notre Dame the favorites to sweep both the men's and women's team titles in a couple of months. "And fortunately what I'm seeing is they're working very hard," Rascioni added. "They are super focused. I don't see any overconfidence." Adding to the excitement this post- season is that Notre Dame will host the NCAA Championships March 19-22 at Purcell Pavilion. The last time Notre Dame hosted this event came in 2022 when it claimed its 12th national cham- pionship. "We'll have a lot of people there to support us, and the kids are already excited about it," Rascioni said. "It's always a very warm environment at home, which is really fun." ✦ Irish Roundup HOCKEY (4-13-1 OVERALL, 0-8-0 BIG TEN) Dropped a pair of games in a home-and-home with Western Michigan, suffering a 4-0 defeat Jan. 2 in South Bend and then a another 4-0 loss Jan. 3 in Kalamazoo, Mich. MEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING (3-3 OVERALL, 0-1 ACC) Faced Minnesota and the University of Tampa in a tri-meet Jan. 3 at Tampa, Fla. … Defeated the Golden Gophers 145-117 and cruised past the Spartans 174-88. WOMEN'S SWIMMING & DIVING (2-3 OVERALL, 1-1 ACC) Won eight events en route to picking up its first ACC victory of the season at Miami Jan. 3, topping the Hurricanes 162.5-137.5. Fighting Irish Fencers Facing Some New Unknown N O T R E D A M E S P O R T S Notre Dame fencers have won four of the last five national championships and 14 NCAA co-ed team titles overall. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS