columbia 21, yale 6 [women]

Part I of the Ivy League Fencing Round-Robins (formerly known as the “South” Championship) is taking place at the Marcellus Hartley Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the campus of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, N.Y. on February 8, 2008.

Here is the latest report.

SABRE: Columbia, 7-2
Yale: Katherine Arden 0-3, Farrah Kimovec 0-3, Jennifer Ivers 2-1.
Columbia: Jackie Jacobson 2-1, Stephanie Aiuto 2-1, Sammy Roberts 3-0.

FOIL: Columbia, 6-3
Yale: Katharine Pitt 2-1, Lidia Gocheva 0-3, Valeria Makeeva 1-2.
Columbia: Nicole Ross 1-2, Alex Huber 3-0, Abby Caparros-Janto 2-1.

EPEE: Columbia, 8-1
Yale: Rebecca Moss 1-2, Abigail Fraeman 0-3, Kristin Saetveit 0-2, Tasha Garcia 0-1.
Columbia: Neely Brandfield-Harvey 3-0, Oriana Isaacson 2-1, Martyna Urbanowicz 3-0.

IVY RECORD: Yale 0-1, Columbia 1-0.

columbia 17, yale 10 [men]

Part I of the Ivy League Fencing Round-Robins (formerly known as the “South” Championship) is taking place at the Marcellus Hartley Dodge Physical Fitness Center on the campus of Columbia University in Morningside Heights, N.Y. on February 8, 2008.

Here is the latest report.

SABRE: Columbia, 7-2
Yale: Jonathan Holbrook 0-3, Adam Fields 1-2, Stephen Watty 1-2.
Columbia: Jeff Spear 3-0, Trevis Joyner 1-2, Alex Rudnicki 3-0.

FOIL: Columbia, 5-4
Yale: John Gurrieri 2-1, Shiv Kachru 1-2, Andrew Holbrook 1-2.
Columbia: Kurt Getz 3-0, Isaac Kim 0-3, Sherif Farrag 2-1.

EPEE: Columbia, 5-4
Yale: Alexander Cohen 1-2, Michael Pearce 3-0, Thomas Bell 0-3.
Columbia: Dwight Smith 1-2, Max Czapanskiy 2-1, Lorenzo Casertano 2-1.

IVY RECORD: Yale 0-1, Columbia 1-0.

scoping out the ivy salles

Leigh Hochberg ’90 Named Doris Duke Foundation Scholar
Brown Fencing Compiles 10-3 Record at NFC #2

Columbia’s Schneider Named CollegeFencing360.com‘s National Fencer of the Week
Fencers Post Strong Showing at NYU Invitational

Facing Tough Competition at Brandes Should Have Cornell Ready for Round-Robins
Cornell Excels at Princeton Duals

Harvard’s Bjelland Contributing to NCAA Fencing Blog
Harvard Fencing Sweeps MIT Duals

Michanik Recaps U.S. Hall of Fame Induction
Penn Men’s and Women’s Fencing Sweep MIT Duals

Princeton’s Scanlan Places Third at Junior World Cup
Princeton Fencing Goes Nine of 10 at Home Dual Meet

Yale’s Harutunian Elected to US Fencing Hall of Fame in Summer 2009
Yale’s Three-Dimensional Collage of a Leader

smart and cross help americans to surprise silver

Courtesy of NBColympics.com

BEIJING (AP) — Evgenia Lamanova figures Russia’s gold medal in women’s team foil fencing could restore some honor to a country struggling both at the Olympics and at home.

Russia won the gold medal with an easy 28-11 win over the U.S. team on Saturday night, but Lamonova’s mind also was on her country’s military conflict with former Soviet state Georgia over South Ossetia.

“This means another gold medal for my country,” she said. “We don’t have many this time. That’s why I would like to inform our team to do better. I would like to wish them luck, more luck. I don’t know why we are having these strange games. Maybe it’s because of the war. I don’t know, but I would like to see us do a lot better at these games for everyone on the Russian team.”

Russia is performing well below its previous Olympic standards. The country, which was a strong second in the final medal counts in 2000 and 2004, has won fewer than half the medals of the U.S. and China so far in Beijing — and only five golds.

But Russia’s team of Lamonova, Victoria Nikishina and Svetlana Boyko won gold Saturday, simply outdoing Americans Emily Cross (Harvard ’09), Hanna Thompson and Erinn Smart (Columbia ’01-BC) through most of the final. The finals feature nine three-minute rotations, with a point per touch. Through eight rotations, the Russians led 20-5.

The Russians were so dominant, the Americans failed to score in four straight rotations.

After beating the Americans, Russia’s team and its coaches met for a group hug and bounced around the strip wildly, a Russian flag draped around them.

The U.S. didn’t expect to go so far. The Americans were seeded seventh in the quarterfinals, but defeated world champion Poland, then beat No. 3 seed Hungary in the semifinals.

“I don’t think we even expected this to turn out as it did,” Smart said. “We were the underdogs going into all of our matches. Some other countries didn’t expect us to be as strong as we were.”

The complete release can be found at NBColympics.com.

Columbia’s Williams Helps U.S. Nab Silver

Courtesy of NBColympics.com

BEIJING (AP) – There Keeth Smart was again – a point away from victory, a point away from defeat.

His American fencing teammates feared the worst.

“I think we were just bracing ourselves,” Jason Rogers said. “We were in Athens and we had two matches, extremely close, both in situations where we could medal. There was a little bit of a flashback to Athens, but I have to give it to Keeth Smart.”

In 2004, Smart was on the strip at the end of back-to-back 45-44 losses. A win in either would have given his team a medal, but instead the U.S. finished fourth. This year, Smart scored the deciding point in two 45-44 wins, and his saber team took the silver.

The U.S. lost to France 45-37 in the championship bout Sunday, but this was still the first American medal in men’s fencing since 1984 – and it capped a heartwarming tale of perseverance for Smart.

“It’s been four long years of heartache that we’ve had to relive over and over,” said Smart, who is leaving fencing to go to business school. “For us to go home with a silver medal is truly an honor.”

Smart’s heartache extended beyond sports. Both his parents died since the Athens Games, his mother, this May. He contracted a rare blood disorder earlier this year, threatening his participation in the Beijing Games.

On Saturday, his sister Erinn (Columbia ’01-BC) won a silver medal in the team foil event. Sunday was his turn: Smart, Rogers, Tim Morehouse and Columbia’s James Williams reached the podium in dramatic fashion.

For the complete release, head to NBColympics.com.