Fencers Slip by Lions, 14-13; Clinch an Upset in Final Bout

Head varsity fencing coach Edo Marion ended a 22-year drought against Columbia yesterday afternoon at the IAB when his charges scored a last bout, 14-13 upset victory over the defending champion Lions.

Sophomore epee specialist Eric Read came from a 2-0 deficit in the last bout to down his opponent in overtime of the marathon four-hour meet and give the Crimson its second Ivy victory against just one defeat.

"At last we've started winning some of the 'squeak-through' meets," jubilant captain Eugene White said, referring to last year's winless Ivy campaign and last week's 14-13 losing effort at Cornell.

"We had the guts to take this thing all the way down to the end. We kept our cool, something we haven't been doing all along," the senior epeeman said.

After losing the first two sabre bouts, the team rallied behind strong foil victories by seniors Howie Weiss and Donald Valentine to take a 5-4 first round lead. Weiss was in superb form, beating two of his three opponents.

The Crimson lost the first two and last two bouts in the second round and only managed to win three of the nine matches. The Lion lead increased to 8-11 when sabreman Loren Joseph lost the first bout in the third round.

But the sabre and the foil teams rose to the occasion. Junior sabre specialist Gordon Rutledge, 2-1 for the afternoon, beat his opponent and junior Steve Hobbs pulled out a close 5-4 victory in the last sabre contest.

Weiss picked up his second foil win, and in a crucial bout--held up for 15 minutes because of faulty equipment--sophomore Philippe Bennett barely escaped with a 5-4 win to tie the score at 12-12.

Senior captain White put the team ahead, 13-12, with his lone victory. Sam Anderson lost in overtime in his only defeat of the afternoon to tie the meet again and set the stage for Read's come-from-behind dramatics.

Harvard is now 7-4 overall and tied, at least until this afternoon, for first place in the Ivy League. Columbia, undefeated last year in league competition, is 2-2 in the Ivies so far. The Crimson faces a strong Penn team this afternoon in the IAB.