QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's men's fencing team added two more All-America honors to its long list of accolades as senior Luther Clement and junior Stan Vaksman finished as one of the top four fencers in their weapons, earning first-team distinction, at the 2008 NCAA Championships held at St. John Arena at The Ohio Sate University, this weekend.

The men's team placed fifth with 70 points, finishing in the national top five for the 13th year in row.

Clement and Vaksman both advanced to the direct elimination round of the National Championship on Sunday afternoon in the bronze medal bouts of their respective weapons. The direct elimination round features the top four fencers in each event. The top four finishers earn automatic first-team All-America honors.

Clement entered as the No. 2 seed in the saber semifinal against No. 3 seed Jeff Spear of Columbia. Despite a valiant effort, Spear edged Clement in a three-point match, 15-12. In the bronze medal bout, Clement competed against Penn State's Daniel Bak, but just missed winning the bronze by a 15-11 decision. Clement finished with 18 victories in the tournament overall.

The men's team placed fifth with 70 points, posting its second national top five finish in as many years.

With his fourth place finish, Clement earned his second consecutive All-American honor.

In the epee, the Red Storm was led by Vaksman, who entered the semifinal also as the No. 2 seed. He was pitted against No. 3 Slava Zingerman of Wayne State who advanced to the gold medal bout with a 15-8 win. Vaksman then moved on to the bronze medal bout where he faced Graham Wicas of Princeton, but just missed with a 15-8 decision in Wicas' favor. Throughout the tournament, Vaksman had 16 victories overall.

Since 1997, the men's fencing team has earned 13 individual All-America honors.

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