COLUMBUS, OH (March 24, 2012) -- Vassar Epeeist Nick Johnson had an up and down opening round at the 2012 NCAA Fencing Championships at The Ohio State University French Field House on Saturday. After battliing some fist-time jitters in his opening bouts, Johnson settled down throughout the rest of his compeition bouts and improved his prospects for a strong finish on Sunday. He sits in 16th position out of 24 fencers after the first day of competition.

Johnson's travel partners for the Championships were Jonathan Yergler and Edward Kelley from Princeton. Johnson went 2-3 in the first round. After losing to the two Princeton fencers, he pulled himself together and beat Marat Israelian from St. John's and Peter Cohen from Yale.

In the second round, Johnson lost to an on-fire James Kaul from Notre Dame, but handled Notre Dame's Michael Rossi and Michael Ramlow from Wayne State. "Nick fenced very skillfully to go 2-1 in that round," explained head coach Bruce Gillman. 

The third round was a series of frustrating bouts for Johnson. After starting with a lead, he lost bouts to Rene Gannon-O'Gara Clifford Fishler from Pennsylvania and Chase Houser from Air Force..

Johnson finished strongly in his fourth and final round. He swept Dylan Nollner and Tristan Jones from Duke. He lost one bout to Cole Connely from Stanford.