Fencing excels in tough, injury-ridden 2009 season

When a coach who just finished his 31st season at the helm of a team calls a season his toughest ever, you listen. For head coach George Kolombatovich and the Columbia fencing team, 2009 was one where injuries rocked many fencers over the course of the season, yet at the end the Lions finished in fourth place at the NCAA championships and second in the Ancient Eight.

The Light Blue opened the season against defending NCAA champion Ohio State and other top competition, with the women looking like the elite squad Columbia is used to seeing. Despite the strong start, when junior sabrist and former national champion Daria Schneider was injured, the team’s chances at an Ivy title were damaged.

Columbia knew that it would be in a battle with other Ivy schools this year as the competition in the Ancient Eight had improved since the season before when the Lions swept their opponents. With injuries playing a major factor for the team, the Light Blue battled hard on the first day of the championship at Levien Gym, but still lost one match in both the men’s and women’s draws. The Lions would need help from other Ivy teams if they were to retain at least a share of the championship, but in the second weekend at Brown they received none, settling for respectable second-place finishes.

In the team’s warm-up to the NCAA regionals, the Intercollegiate Fencing Association championship, Columbia had one of its most impressive outings, earning three gold medals and a bronze and setting them up well for their run to the NCAA championships. At regionals, the Lions qualified 10 of a maximum 12 fencers, yet when selection day for the championship came, the Light Blue got a welcome surprise when sophomore Abby Caparros-Janto earned the team an at-large bid.

With 11 fencers making the trip to the NCAA championship, a number that was the best the team could have hoped for entering the event, Columbia played very well, scoring 151 victories. That total was only one short of their entire haul from a season ago when the team brought in the maximum 12 fencers. The 151 points was good enough for a fourth place finish overall, while Schneider and junior foilist Kurt Getz earned bronze medals in women’s sabre and men’s foil, respectively. In total, six fencers—Schneider, Getz, freshman Neely Brandfield-Harvey, sophomores Jackie Jacobson and Nicole Ross, and junior Jeff Spear—earned spots as either first- or second-team All-Americans, just one short of the 2008 total.

Overall, despite the injuries that plagued the team over the course of 2009, the Columbia fencing team once again proved its merits as one of the elite teams in the nation.