PRINCETON, N.J. -- Ivy League fencers claimed seven of the possible 12 titles at the two-day NCAA Northeast and Mid-Atlantic/South Regional event, with a total 18 student-athletes from the league finishing in the top-three.
While regional winners automatically advance, the rest of the 2017 NCAA Championship selections will be announced on Tuesday, March 14.
At the Northeast Regional in New Haven, Conn., Ivy fencers claimed four gold medals.
Ivies swept the podium in the men’s foil. In his first NCAA Northeast Regional, Columbia freshman Sam Moelis posted a 20-2 record to claim gold. Harvard’s Matthew Branman tallied eight wins and a plus-18 touch differential in the final round to take second. Teammate George Haglund registered seven wins in the final bouts of the day to earn bronze.
In the men’s sabre, Harvard’s Eli Dershwitz edged out Columbia’s Michael Costin to claim gold. Dershwitz and Costin fenced an identical 10-1 and plus-21 differential in the final round, but Dershwitz scored a single touch more than Costin to secure the gold.
Harvard’s Albert Chein finished third in the men’s epee. Chein recorded seven wins and a positive touch variance to finish with the bronze medal.
Columbia went 1-2-3 in the women’s foil led by Margaret Lu who claimed gold in the weapon. Lu, the 2017 Ivy League Foil Individual Champion, finished 22-1 with a plus-40 touch differential in the final pool. Iman Blow took silver and Sara Taffel finished with bronze. Blow went 20-3 in the final round, while Taffel posted a 20-3 mark on the final day.
In the women’s epee, Cornell’s Victoria Wines claimed silver while Katherine Miller of Yale clinched third. Wines claimed her second straight silver medal, while Miller posted the top finish of the day for Yale. Columbia’s Katie Angen, Giana Vierheller and Mason Speta finished 4-5-6 in the epee.
Harvard’s Adrienne Jarocki earned a silver while Columbia’s Lena Johnson took bronze in the women’s sabre. Jarocki and Karolina Sieslar of St. John’s ended the day with matching 21-1 records, forcing a head-to-head bout for the win. Sieslar bested Jarocki 5-2 in the final bout. Johnson and teammate Anastasia Ivanoff both went 7-4 in the final pool, but Johnson edged out Ivanoff for bronze with a plus-eight differential.
At the South Regional, hosted by Lafayette, Ivy Fencers claimed three gold medals.
Princeton’s Thomas Dudey earned gold in the men’s foil. The title is Dudley’s second, along with his win in 2015.
In the women’s epee, Princeton posted a 1-2-3 finish. Charlene Liu won the weapon title, while senior teammates Anna Van Brummen and Katharine Holmes were right behind.
Penn rookie Sara Papp claimed the gold in the women’s sabre. Papp went 9-2 in pool play to secure the top-finish.