Fencing teams take fourth place at NCAA Championships

Both the men’s and women’s fencing teams took home fourth-place finishes at this year’s NCAA Championships, with sabrist Daria Schneider and foilist Kurt Getz each earning bronze medals. Columbia was the top Ivy team on both sides of the competition, edging out Penn, which finished fifth on the men’s side and seventh on the women’s.

Schneider, who won the gold medal at the 2007 NCAA Championships and spent last season training for a spot on the US Olympic team, finished third at this year’s tournament, falling to eventual champion Rebecca Ward of Duke in the semifinals. For Getz, 2009 was his third straight year with a bronze, as the junior lost his semifinal bout with Notre Dame’s Gerek Meinhardt. Meinhardt lost to Penn State’s Nicholas Chinman in the final, while Getz tied for third with Miles Chamley-Watson, also of Penn State.

Getz also earned first-team All-American honors, as did sabrist Jeff Spear, who finished seventh in the sabre competition and received second-team honors. As of press time, the women’s All-American team had not been announced.

A full recap of the NCAA Championships will run in Tuesday’s edition of Spectator.