Although the Columbia fencing team finished in fourth place at the NCAA Championships this past weekend, the Light Blue’s final win count represents possibly the best performances for Columbia fencers in recent memory. The Lions earned 151 points with only 11 fencers over the four-day competition—just four points behind last season’s third-place finish in which Columbia totaled 155 points with 12 fencers. In addition to the overall fourth-place finish, two Lions earned bronze medals at the NCAA Championships, and six fencers were named to either the first- or second-team All-American squad.
The NCAA Championships began with the men’s competition last Thursday on the campus of eventual national champion Penn State. Columbia finished the first day in fourth place with a total of 40 victories despite fielding only five fencers in the men’s competition. The top three finishers at the event—Penn State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State—all had the maximum number of fencers, 12, competing. Without a full set of fencers, it was nearly impossible for the Lions to have earned a national championship, so finishing as the top team with the next fewest entries highlighted the quality of those who did qualify for the event.
Junior foilist Kurt Getz led the way for the Light Blue men, earning a bronze medal in the 15-touch individual round of the tournament. Getz fell to eventual silver medalist Gerek Meinhardt in the individual competition after posting the second-most victories, 18, in the round-robin competition behind Meinhardt and Penn State’s Miles Chamley-Watson. The strong finish was enough for Getz to earn his third straight bronze medal at the NCAA Championships and his third consecutive first-team All-American honor. Defending sabre national champion Jeff Spear earned second-team All-American honors after finishing seventh by virtue of tiebreakers despite scoring the fourth-most victories in sabre. Senior co-captain Sherif Farrag finished with 11 wins in foil in his final collegiate competition while senior epeeist Lorenzo Casertano and junior epeeist Dwight Smith recorded 12 and seven wins, respectively.
The women’s portion of the competition began on Saturday, and the Lions started strong, earning 53 victories in just four rounds of fencing. At the end of the day, the women trailed only Penn State and Notre Dame. The day’s performance solidified the team’s fourth-place standing, well clear of then-fifth-place St. John’s by 28 points. The Light Blue would maintain this position, while Harvard leapfrogged St. John’s for fifth place by the end of the competition, 35 victories behind the Light Blue.
Junior sabrist and former national champion Daria Schneider finished the competition with a bronze medal and first-team All-American accolades after completing the round-robin portion of the tournament with 19 victories and third place overall. In the individual competition, Schneider was beaten by Duke freshman Becca Ward, a 2008 United States Olympian, 15-9. Sophomore sabrist Jackie Jacobson finished seventh with 15 victories—enough for second-team All-American honors. Sophomore foilist Nicole Ross was caught in a similar position as Spear—despite finishing with enough victories to tie for fourth place overall, she was not allowed to compete in the individual competition because of her indicator score, the amount of touches earned subtracted by those taken. Ross earned second-team All-American status along with freshman epeeist Neely Brandfield-Harvey, who placed sixth in her competition. Sophomore foilist Abby Caparros-Janto ended up in sixteenth place with 10 victories while junior epeeist Tess Finkel earned the Lions seven points.
As a team, the Lions finished ahead of every other Ivy League school that competed at the NCAA Championships with five Ivies cracking the top 10 overall. Harvard ended the competition in fifth place with Penn in seventh, Princeton in eighth, and Yale in tenth. The Ancient Eight’s strong display showcased why it is perennially the best fencing conference in the nation year in and year out.