Fencers Top Crusaders, 19-8; Sabre, Epee Teams Lead Rout

Holy Cross was once made famous by an historic case of football hepatitis. But after last night's fencing match, it could well become the home of fencing dysentery. The competition was just about that calibre.

The outcome, a 19-8 Harvard victory, was merely a formality. No one really expected the Crusaders to mount any kind of serious threat, and they fulfilled all prematch expectations. The Crimson, led by an 8-1 rout in sabre and a 7-2 advantage in epee, completely dominated the match.

Crimson captain Terry Valenzuela, who has almost completed a second straight outstanding season and should be a shoo-in for All-Ivy honors, and Walt Morris each swept three straight to lead the sabre squad to its runaway victory.

Sophomore Gordon Rutledge could have given Harvard a clean sweep in the sabre, but he lost one bout and could only come up with a 2-1 record for the match.

"Gordon was just playing around out there," Crimson coach Edo Marion said last night. "The man who beat him was just a beginner who had very little technical skill."

In epee, the Crimson domination was almost as convincing. Led by Eugene White, who has come back from a lengthy bout with the flu to do the best fencing of his career, Harvard never allowed Holy Cross to get close. The other two epee men, Ken Bartels and John Hirschfeld, each took two out of three to support White.

While Holy Cross was little short of pathetic in sabre and epee, the Crusader foil team managed to treat the Crimson pretty harshly. In fact, Holy Cross outpointed Harvard, 5-4, a score which has to be recorded as a major embarrassment for the Crimson foil men.

Howie Weiss continued to be the most consistent foil fencer for the Crimson, triumphing in two of three bouts. Unfortunately, the rest of the Harvard squad was unable to keep pace, with Phillipe Bennett and Dave Fichter each splitting their two bouts and Tom Sharp losing two straight.

"I'm not proud of this victory," Marion said afterwards. "While their point men were pretty good, we showed no drive or imagination out there."

The win raised Harvard's record to 9-5 with only one match remaining. The Crimson clash with Yale here on Saturday.