Freshman Fencers Are Best Ever, Coach Says

Edo Marion is a happy man and with good cause.

Marion coaches the Harvard freshman fencing team, which should be one of the best in the country this year.

"The turn out this year was the finest I have ever seen at Harvard," Marion said. "In the past I have had to work with inexperienced teams, teaching basics from scratch. The strategy has been to hope that four years of training would develop a talented and experienced varsity."

This year's crop of freshmen has not only experience but talent as well. With the great potential he has to work with, Marion said, this year's freshman team could be a turning point in Harvard fencing. He says that as the freshmen advance to the varsity, Harvard could become one of the nation's fencing citadels.

The best fencers in the United States come from the New York-New Jersey area. This year Marion has three members of the New Jersey Junior Olympic fencing team.

1-2-3 Punch

One is Tom Keller, a foil fencer who placed seventh in the World Junior Championship in Iraq last year. Marc Irvings, another foil fencer, was also on the New Jersey Junior Olympic team. The third is Larry Cetrulo. Cetrulo is now playing football, but once he comes out, Marion said, Harvard will have one of the best 1-2-3 combinations in the country. Cetrulo fences both saber and foil and was New Jersey Prep School fencing champion last year.

Marion is also working with a promising Canadian. Geza Tatrallyay, Marion said that Tatrallyay's previous training has been poor, but that he has the natural ability to become an excellent saber fencer.