March 22, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - North Carolina senior Bobby Ziechmann notched the best NCAA Championships finish of his career in his final appearance, claiming 13th overall in the men's sabre competition and helping UNC to a tie for 20th in the team competition. Penn State, which won the 2009 title, hosted the NCAA Championships, with men's competition on Thursday and Friday and women's Saturday and Sunday.
Ziechmann, a four-time championship qualifier, placed 21st as a freshman, 16th as a sophomore and 18th as a junior. As a senior, he fell one spot short of earning All-America accolades, which go to the top 12 finishers. He went into the competition seeded 12th.
Sophomore Kevin Ziechmann, Bobby's younger brother, also competed at the NCAA Championships, finishing 21st in sabre. The Mid-Atlantic/South Region's top alternate, he was a late addition to the sabre field of 24. He finished 24th at NCAA Championships as a freshman in 2008.
The Ziechmann brothers are from Charlotte, where they attended Providence High School.
This year marked the 42nd year in a row in which UNC has sent at least one competitor to the NCAA Championships.
Overall NCAA team finishes: 1. Penn State; 2. Notre Dame; 3. Ohio Sate; 4. Columbia/Barnard; 5. Harvard; 6. St. John's Univ.; 7. Univ. of Pennsylvania; 8. Princeton; 9. Stanford; 10. Yale; 11. Duke; 12. Northwestern; 13. Temple; 14. Wayne State; 15. NYU; 16. Air Force Academy; 17. UC-San Diego; 18. Brandeis; 19. Cornell; T20. Brown; T20. North Carolina; 22. Fairleigh Dickinson; 23. Boston College; T24. MIT; T24. Vassar
