Harvard Fencers Slash Judges to win, 19-8 In Marathon Contest Lasting Over 3 Hours

The Harvard fencing team entertained Brandeis last night at the IAB, but the evening was more like an all-night slumber party than a fencing contest. And like the nocturnal revels of grammar school teenyboppers, the thing lasted an awful long time (three-and-a-half hours) and accomplished very little.

Granted, Harvard did put down the Judge challenge, winning the match 19-8, but between the failures of the electrical judging equipment, the lateness of the director, and the downright tedium of watching good fencers fence inept ones, while looking inept in the process themselves, it was an evening better spent at home reading up for the new term.

Crimson coach Edo Marion was alternately dismayed and angry over his team's performance. "We fenced lousy," he said afterwards. "We had no attacks, no timing. It's really discouraging."

The Crimson jumped out to a quick lead in the first round, taking six out of the first nine bouts, and never once looked back. The second round, despite a 45-minute delay during Howie Weiss's bout, increased the distance between Harvard and the Judges. The Crimson won seven out of nine in the second round and followed that up with six more wins in the last stanza.

Individually, Gordon Rutledge and Terry Valenzuela led the sabre squad to a 6-3 bouting record, taking three bouts apiece without a loss. Howie Weiss and Chris Jennings also won three bouts each in foil and epee respectively.

Two Out of Three

Weiss was supported by Phillipe Bennett and Dave Fichter who each took two out of three, while in epee John Hirschfeld also won two against one loss.

The foil squad only lost two bouts in the match.

Despite the impressive victory totals, the performance against Brandeis was sloppy, and at times abysmal. And the frustration of close bouts (there were seven 5-4 bouts, a good indication that the bouting is of poor quality) justified Marion's dismay.

"If you fence a weak team like this, you should smash them," Marion said. "There was no zing to our performance. It was all lead--there was no silver."