Fencing Surprising 8th at IFA Tourney

It hasn't been the greatest of seasons for the Harvard men's fencing team as far as win-loss records go.

With a combined 9-24 record across all three weapons (epee, saber and foil), there often hasn't been much to cheer about besides the swordplay of the defending NCAA runner-up in the foil, sophomore Kwame van Leeuwen.

That's why an eighth-place finish (out of 14 teams) at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association tournament last weekend has team members excited.

"We did extremely well for our ranking." Team Manager sophomore Peter Tang said. "We were just trying our hardest. We really didn't have any expectations."

Of course, van Leeuwen was as magical as ever.

Winning 23 out of 26 matches in the foil, van Leeuwen clinched a tournament victory--the first time a Harvard man had won the IFAs in 43 years.

"Kwame did a fabulous job," Tang said. "He had some really breathtaking touches, and people who weren't even on the Harvard team started clapping for him."

In addition to van Leeuwen, junior Tobias Lee surprised even himself edging into Sunday's individual competition in the epee.

"I was very excited to qualify," he said. "I wasn't expected to."

Lee trounced his first two opponents on Sunday, but then lost his concentration ("I hadn't gotten much sleep," Lee said) and dropped the next three matches, which disqualified him from the final round.

Lee said his mistake was allowing himself to get behind early in the matches. (The rules of the epee format make it difficult to rebound from bad starts.)

"You can't get behind like that, and I did. That kills you," Lee said.

Concentration can often be a problem in fencing tournaments, where competitors can fight upwards of 20 bouts a day. On Saturday, nine Harvard fencers fought 13 bouts each.

Both men's and women's foil teams qualified for NCAA regional competition at St. John's this coming weekend--a similarly draining event.

Van Leeuwen's eyes, however, are already centered on the national championships is Detroit over spring break. He hasn't forgotten his close loss to Stanford's Nick Bravin in the last year's finals.

"It's been my focus all year," van Leeuwen said.