Fencing Does Not Disappoint at Regionals

After an impressive performance at the NCAA Northeast Fencing Regionals, Harvard fencers put the team in a good position for next week’s NCAA fencing championships.

In the competition held last Sunday in Providence, R.I., Crimson sophomore swordsman James Hawrot was the team’s best finisher, earning first place in the epee. He went 8-3 in the final round against the toughest opposition in the Northeast for the win after posting a 4-2 and 5-1 record in the first and second rounds, respectively.

“Obviously our best result,” said Harvard fencing coach Peter Brand. “He was very strong.”

In the same division, co-captain Karl Harmenberg finished third, as he also boasted an 8-3 record in the final round after going 4-2 in the first round and 3-3 in the second.

“This is a great way for him to finish his career here,” Brand said.

Freshman Ben White also made it to the final round in the epee, coming in at 9th place with a 5-6 record. He was 6-0 in the first round and 5-1 in the second.

In the foil, freshman Tommasso di Robilant finished second, just ahead of his teammate, junior Hao Meng, who finished third.

“[Meng] really came out this year and did what we always though we could do, and that is to qualify for the national championship,” Brand said.

Di Robilant was 8-3 in the final round after going undefeated in the second round and 3-3 in the first. Meng went 7-4 in the final pool, following a 3-3 record in the first and 4-2 in the second.

Co-captain Long Ouyang was 4-2 in the first round before failing to post a win in the second, eliminating him from the competition.

The sabre division saw two Crimson fencers finish in the top ten, as freshman Michael Tom and sophomore Valentin Staller finish seventh and ninth, respectively. Freshman Thomas Kolasa also competed, but was eliminated before the final round.

On the women’s side, sophomore co-captains Noam Mills and Caroline Vloka each finished second in the epee and sabre divisions, respectively.

“Both Noam and Caroline are world-class fencers,” Brand said. “It’s not surprising that they did as well as they have.”

Mills was 8-3 in the final round after going undefeated in the first and second round, finishing 20-3 overall in the competition.

“It was good practice,” Mills said. “I fenced pretty well against all the people I’m going to fence against at NCAA’s.”

Freshman Felicia Sun finished sixth in the same division. She was 6-5 in the final round, 4-2 in the second, and 5-1 in the first. Sun, a walk-on, was one of 12 Harvard fencers to qualify for the NCAA championships.

“You rarely see a walk-on fencer qualify for the national championships,” Brand said. “Its kudos to her that she was able to do that.”

Classmate Nadia Eldeib was eliminated after a 1-5 record in the first round of the epee.

Vloka, competing in the sabre, was 9-2 in the final round following an undefeated first round and a 4-2 second round. Sophomore Hayley Levitt and freshman Elene Helgiu were each eliminated before the final round of the competition, and finished 13th and 14th, respectively.

Sophomore Shelby MacLeod was the highest Crimson finisher in the foil division, as she fenced her way to fourth place. She was 7-4 in the final round after going 4-2 in the second round and 5-1 in the first.

Senior Arielle Pensler posted a 4-2 record in the first and second round, but a 4-7 record in the finals dropped her to 8th place. Classmate Misha Goldfeder finished 10th, as she went 3-8 in the final round after going 5-1 in the first and second rounds. Freshman Katherine Chou was 3-3 in the first round and 2-4 in the second, before a 1-10 mark in the final round relegated her to 12th place.

“I’m happy overall with my performance and the performance of all my teammates,” Mills said. “Even the ones that didn’t qualify all supported the other members of the team.”

An announcement by the NCAA Tuesday revealed that Mills, along with Sun, Goldfeder, MacLeod, Helgiu and Vloka, was selected to fence at the Finals on the women’s side. Hawrot, Harmenberg, di Robilant, Meng, Staller, and Tom will represent Harvard on the men’s side.

Brand was very complimentary of his entire team, and thinks that the Crimson is one of five teams with a good shot at the national title, as 12 Harvard fencers qualified to compete at the NCAA Finals, to be held at the Gordon Track Center March 25-28.

“We had a very good result overall,” the coach said. “If you [can qualify twelve fencers], they you can really challenge and have a shot at winning the championship.”

Brand noted that the last time 12 Crimson fencers qualified for the NCAA Finals was 2006, when Harvard brought home the national title.

“It bodes well for us,” Brand said.