Fencing

In five seconds, the average human being will blink once or twice, take one full breath, and experience roughly one beat of his heart.

In nearly every way, the 2008 NCAA fencing championship was déjà vu for the Columbia Lions fencing team. The Light Blue captured third place overall, behind national champion Ohio State and runner-up Notre Dame, bolstered by Jeff Spear’s individual sabre national championship and bronze-medal performances from Kurt Getz, Emily Jacobson, and Nicole Ross. Columbia’s third-place finish matched the best in the program’s history—set last year—since the expansion to six disciplines.

For the second season in a row, the Columbia fencing team has the chance to bring a national title to Morningside Heights, as 12 fencers take to the strips at the NCAA Championships this weekend in Columbus, Ohio.

The Columbia fencing team did all it was asked to do and more on Sunday at the NCAA Northeast Regionals. The Lions put on another impressive performance against the best the Northeast could offer, qualifying the maximum possible number of 12 fencers for the NCAA Championships, with four more members of the Light Blue making institutional alternate status.

While Columbia did not sweep every weapon category at Sunday’s Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships, the Light Blue walked away with the most important trophies of the competition. The six-weapon title—given to the school with the highest number of victories from the men’s and women’s competitions combined—landed in the Lions’ hands, along with the men’s team championship, women’s foil title, and men’s foil trophies.

Fresh off winning the Ivy League fencing title last weekend at Princeton, the Columbia fencing teams finished off its regular season schedule at home against Vassar, Sacred Heart, and New York University in Levien Gymnaisum yesterday.

While both the men’s and women’s Columbia fencing teams reign supreme as Ivy League champs, there are still further goals to be reached.

After the first four rounds of the Ivy Championships, the Columbia fencing team is perfect. The women sit at 3-0, and the men 2-0 heading into next weekend’s Ivy Championships South at Princeton, where they will face rival Harvard to battle for the title.

The Columbia fencing team came away from its first collegiate meet of the season at the NYU Duals with mixed results. With key fencers missing for last Saturday’s meet, the third-ranked Lion women put up a strong showing with a 4-1 record on the day, while the men went 2-3 against some the nation’s best competition.