MOHANKA: College or country: an athlete’s choice

“America!” shouted senior fencer Sean Leahy as he won his last ever Ivy League bout against Yale on Sunday.

I’m Indian, born and bred, and I love my country. I’m sure you love yours. But would you expect someone to be patriotic enough to shout his or her country’s name out loud after an Ivy League fencing bout? Leahy’s opponent was Canadian, but, nonetheless, I was still very surprised.

That incident on the weekend got me thinking about the relationship between an athlete’s university and his or her national obligations. I realized that, over the years, no other women’s fencing team competing at the Ivy League Championships has suffered more from this ambiguous relationship than Columbia’s. In my time here, the Light Blue women’s fencing team has been made to compete at Ivies without its top talent due to international competitions occurring at the same time. Columbia has suffered because, in a similar vein to Leahy’s shouting out his country’s name rather than that of his school, people choose the international stage over the collegiate one.

Columbia fencing hasn’t won an Ivy title since 2008, and if the Lions keep recruiting talent that’s essentially a class apart from the rest of the Ivy League and that consequently can’t be around for Ivies because of bigger tournaments, that may not change soon.

In 2009, the Lions narrowly missed out on an Ivy League title as they lost to eventual champion Harvard 15-12. The Light Blue was without Daria Schneider, CC ’10, who chose to fence at a World Cup abroad. She was the NCAA champion for women’s sabre in 2007—yep, she won NCAAs as a rookie. The Lions fell to the Crimson 15-12, and though the sabreist’s presence wouldn’t have altered the result directly (because the three sabre fencers who competed only dropped a bout each to the Crimson), Schneider’s attendance could have had an infectious effect and helped her teammates convert losses to wins.

In 2010, the Lions narrowly missed out on the title, as they lost to eventual champion Princeton 15-12. The Light Blue was without Nicole Ross, who won the 2010 NCAA title in women’s foil. The 2010 Ivy Championships were held in two parts, and Ross was around for day one. She went a combined 8-1 against Yale, Cornell, and Brown. However, she missed day two when the Lions faced the Tigers, as she was at a World Cup in Poland. Her foil teammates went 0-9 against Princeton, and the Lions lost by three bouts. Had Ross been around, and gone even 2-1, it would have been, all else staying equal, a 14-13 Columbia victory.

In 2011, the Lions again narrowly missed out on an Ivy League title as they lost to eventual champion Princeton 15-12 for the second year in a row. The Light Blue was again without Ross, who decided to take that spring and the following year off to train for the Olympics. Her foil teammates went 3-6 against Princeton, and the Lions lost by three bouts overall. Had Ross been around, and gone even 2-1, the result would have been a 14-13 Columbia victory.

This year, the Lions missed out on the grand prize, as they lost to eventual champion Princeton 18-9. The Lions competed without last year’s junior world champion Nzingha Prescod, who is taking the calendar year off to train for the Olympics. Ross still could have competed this year because she has a year of eligibility left. With Prescod and Ross, there would almost certainly have been a different winner in the Columbia-Princeton showdown for the Ivy title.

I’m not trying to question Prescod, Ross, or Schneider’s choices—not at all. I’m full of respect for these individuals. The three fencers I’ve mentioned are truly wonderful people and have been an enormous source of pride for Columbia because of their sporting achievements. They obviously love their Light Blue team and their country, and it’s understandable that they make decisions that are best for themselves.

Obviously Columbia shouldn’t stop recruiting stellar fencers, so I think it’s important for the Ivy League to take note and remedy the situation.

Is it really that hard to look at the international fencing calendar and see which weekends have competitions that the top fencers at the collegiate level may need to go to? I’m willing to bet that the Ancient Eight’s governing body for fencing can find a weekend that doesn’t overlap with a big international event. Granted, you can’t stop people from taking time off for the Olympics, but at least avoid the conflict with World Cups that occur over a weekend. The league’s organizers should look into this for seasons ahead, so that young athletes are not put in tight situations and asked to make these choices.

The Ivy League really should certainly alter its current methodology, and it should do so if not for the individuals at stake, then at least for their teams’ sake.

Mrinal Mohanka is a Columbia College senior majoring in economics. He is a former sports editor for Spectator.
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