Men's Fencing Captures NCAA Title

For the first time since 1993, the Columbia men's fencing team is national champion.

At the NCAA Championships in Madison, N.J., the Lions took the men's crown with a total of 93 points accumulated over the two-day round-robin tournament. Columbia finished ahead of Penn State by four points, Notre Dame by eight and Ohio State and St. John's by 11.

The men were led by the dominant foil duo of freshman Kurt Getz and senior Scott Sugimoto. Getz and Sugimoto combined for commanding 38 victories in their 46 round-robin matches and by virtue of their success, both qualified for the four-person medal knockout stage. Although they lost their semifinal matches, including a 15-14 decision for Sugimoto, the two Lions were then pitted against each other for third and fourth place in the country. With a 15-8 victory, Getz claimed the bronze medal that was Sugimoto's just a season ago.

Despite the fact that only one Lion earned a medal, all six fencers finished as all-Americans. The men's sabre team consisted of veteran seniors in James Williams and Alex Krul, while the men's epee squad was, by contrast, a youth movement with sophomores Dwight Smith and Max Czapanskiy. Smith ended up qualifying for the epee knockout-stage as the fourth seed, but lost both his matches to fall just short of the bronze medal.

In Columbia's quest for a combined team championship, the victory on the men's side gives the Lions an advantage heading into the weekend. The team championship will be determined by combining the number of points, or individual victories, from both the men's and women's teams. With Columbia's men providing a lead over its closest rivals, it is now the women's turn to prove why they were the only undefeated team in the nation this season.

The women's round robin begins Saturday morning at the Simon Forum on the campus of Drew University.