Multi-awarded former UE Red Warriors’ Fencing Team stalwarts Samantha Kyle L. Catantan and Nathaniel M. Perez aim for a shot, as part of the Philippine Team, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, as they compete in the 2024 Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament!
The qualifying tournament is set for April 27 and 28, 2024, at Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
Touted as the number 1 foil fencer in the country by the Philippine Fencing Association, former UE Red Warriors Girls’ Fencing Team standout Miss Catantan is currently an accounting student at Pennsylvania State University, where she is part of their varsity Fencing Team, the Nittany Lions.
In the most recent US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Fencing Tournament held last March 22 at the French Field House in Columbus, Ohio, Miss Catantan finished 10th out of the best 24 fencers in the United States in the Women’s Foil event.
Miss Catantan had earned her senior high school diploma, With Honors, as an Accountancy, Business and Management strand graduate of the UE Basic Education Department-Manila, during UE Manila’s first ever virtual SHS Commencement Rites on November 14, 2020.
During her stint with the UE Red Warriors Girls’ Fencing Team, Miss Catantan helped steer the squad to consecutive championships in the girls’ division of the annual University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) fencing tournaments, and was the consecutive Most Valuable Player awardee in the fencing girls’ division of UAAP seasons 78, 79, 80, 81 and 82. She was also the Rookie of the Year for the same division of UAAP season 77.
She earned acclaim while representing the Philippines in various international tournaments, winning her first individual gold medal in an overseas competition via last year’s Asian U23 Fencing Championships in Bangkok, Thailand. In the 2018 Asian U23, she was part of the team that bagged the gold medal in the team foil event.
Miss Catantan had earned a silver medal in women’s foil in the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August 2017. More recently, she won a bronze medal in women’s foil in the 30th SEAG in the Philippines, in December 2019. In 2022, she won the gold medal in women’s foil in the 31st SEAG in Hanoi, Vietnam, and the silver medal in the same event in the 32nd SEAG in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in 2023.
In terms of academics, Miss Catantan was a Bagong Rizal awardee via the 2017 search for “Mga Bagong Rizal: Pag-asa ng Bayan” by the Philippine Center for Gifted Education, one of only 17 such awardees from all over the Philippines formally recognized in November that year.
Miss Catantan was offered an athletic scholarship by Penn State for her extraordinary achievements, especially her ranking as the Top 16th foil fencer in the world. She is the first homegrown Filipino to be recruited by an NCAA Division 1 school. She flew to the USA in December 2020, and was able to join the Penn State Fencing Team mid-January 2021, after completing her mandatory quarantine period due to the then Covid-19 pandemic.
Miss Catantan marked her debut in the US NCAA in 2021 as part of the Penn State Fencing Team by winning the bronze medal in the individual foil competition of the 2021 National Collegiate Fencing Championships. She is the first ever Filipino-born and -bred fencer to compete in a US NCAA tournament.
For his part, Mr. Perez was a former Master in Business Administration student at the UE Graduate School, He graduated Fifth Honorable Mention from the UE Elementary and Secondary Laboratory Schools-Manila (now the UE Basic Education Department-Manila) in 2012. He continued his UE journey at the College of Business Administration-Manila, from which he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, major in Financial Management, on April 25, 2017. He was recognized as the UE Athlete of the Year during the University’s Recognition Day program on February 28, 2017.
Mr. Perez was part of UE’s UAAP Boys’ seven-peat and Men’s five-peat Champion Fencing Teams. He won the UAAP Most Valuable Player award five times, twice in the juniors’ division and thrice in the seniors’ division. He also took home the Rookie of the Year honor in UAAP Season 75.
He won a silver medal in Men’s Individual Foil of the 2017 SEAG in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; a bronze medal in the same event in the 2019 SEAG in Manila; a silver medal in the 2021 SEAG in Hanoi, Vietnam; and a bronze medal in the Team Foil event in the 2023 SEAG in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Mr. Perez was also part of the Philippine delegation to the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea in 2014.
As a UE student, Mr. Perez was a member of the UE Junior Financial Executives (JFINEX) and the Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (JPIA).
Good luck on your Olympic conquests and future pursuits, UE Red Warrior Fencers Samantha Catantan and Nathaniel Perez! Thank you for making your red-and-white Alma Mater very proud!
The photo here shows Mr. Perez and Ms. Catantan after their successful SEAG 2017 stint in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo by James Patrick P. Trinidad.
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