No. 3 Men’s Fencing Takes Second Place at the Ivy Championship
Seniors Hawrot and Staller along with Freshman Brian Kaneshige were awarded for their efforts at the 2012 Ivy League Championship with First Team All-Ivy accolades. (Ivy League Athletic Communications)
Full Results
Video Highlights
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The No. 3 Harvard men's fencing team defeated Columbia, 15-12, and Brown 18-9, completing the Ivy League championship with a 4-1 record and second-place behind Princeton (5-0). The Crimson also earned four Ivy League awards in the process.
Seniors Valentin Staller and James Hawrot, along with freshman Brian Kaneshige earned first team all-Ivy League honors in the saber, epee, and foil, respectively. Staller went 12-3 over the two-day span, missing out on sharing the individual title by a one win. Hawrot finished third in the epee field with a 10-5 mark and Kaneshige went 11-4 to finish tied for second with Columbia's Alex Pensler and Brown's Barret Weiss. Meanwhile sophomore Lucas Lin landed on the Ivy League's second team in the foil. Lin went 9-6 in the field placing sixth.
After a 2-0 start yesterday (defeating Penn and Yale), Harvard encountered a problem with Princeton who narrowly defeated the Crimson 14-13. The defeat didn't stop Harvard's confidence in day two however as it opened with Columbia and took down the Lions 15-12. With two close scores between the saber (5-4) and epee (4-5) it was the foil that carried the day for the Crimson. Kaneshige and Lin both went 2-1 in their bouts to help lift Harvard to a 6-3 advantage in the grouping and the eventual 15-12 victory.
In the Crimson's final bout of the tournament Harvard squared off with Brown. Harvard's foil and epee division dominated the bears as Kanshige went a perfect 3-0 and Lin recorded a stellar 2-1 mark earning a 6-3 advantage. Both freshman Peregrine Badger and Hawrot fought to 3-0 in the epee field earning the Crimson a 7-2 mark and helped Harvard win 18-9.
Harvard will have a quick turnaround when it hosts the Beanpot tournament at the Malkin Athletic Center on Tuesday at 6 p.m.