BROOKLYN, N.Y. — LIU freshman epeeist Mo Elsayed has had a great first season with the LIU men's fencing team.

The Egyptian phenom arrived in Brooklyn in early September, and wasted no time adding to his trophy case. He won the first-ever competition in the history of the team, when he took gold in men's epee at the Temple Open.

He went on to post a 19-2 regular-season record, finishing as the top-ranked epee fencer in the nation. Internationally, he won two junior world cups, and went into the collegiate season with the No. 2 world ranking.

After qualifying for the NCAA Championships in early March, Elsayed took his first shot at a national title very seriously, winning 19 out of a possible 23 bouts in the round-robin pool and keeping the top seed throughout the entire pool. Unfortunately, in the semifinal round, he fell to Ohio State's Paul Veltrup and brought home a bronze medal along with NCAA first-team All-America honors, becoming the first All-American in LIU men's fencing history.

His final competition of the season was just two weeks later, when he competed in his final Junior (U-20) World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Elsayed reached the quarterfinal round before losing to American Samuel Imrek. Elsayed finished in sixth place and earned enough points to finish the international season as the No. 1-ranked fencer in the world.

He also led Team Egypt to its second consecutive team gold medal, and the seventh team gold medal in its last eight team competitions.

Elsayed has been named as the men's fencing MVP for this season by head coach Ivan Lee. Later this year, at the Congress of the International Fencing Federation, he will be honored as a junior world champion and winner of the 2023 Junior World Cup in men's epee.

"I couldn't be prouder of Mo," Lee said. "It's not easy moving to another part of the world, living in a new city, working with new coaches and teammates, and maintaining such a high level of competitive success. The scary thing is that he's just getting started.

"He wants to win an NCAA national title and medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris."