The Harvard men's and women's fencing teams hosted Columbia and Cornell this weekend at the Malkin Athletic Center, and although the Crimson men and women were no match for Columbia, both squads scored victories over Cornell.

The reigning NCAA Champion Lion men thrashed the Crimson 18-7 while the Lion women downed Harvard 13-2.

But the Crimson took out its frustrations on a weaker Cornell squad as Harvard won the men's and women's competitions 16-11 and 10-6 respectively.

The Crimson competed without its star fencer, sophomore Kwamee Van Leeuwen. The Mather resident, who placed second in last year's NCAA Championships, sat out with an illness. But even with him, Harvard wouldn't have had much of a chance against a superior Columbia team.

The Crimson's main problem was inexperience. Harvard has lost seven of nine starters from last year's team, and could not silence the swords of Columbia's veteran squad.

The men's tournament was divided according to the three different weapons used--foil, epee and sabre--and against the Lions, Harvard lost all three divisions: 7-2 in foil, 5-2 in epee and 6-3 in sabre.

The Crimson was particularly disappointed with its performance with the foil against Columbia. Van Leeuwen's absence placed the burden on freshman Greg Chang, who scored Harvard's only two points.

Lions Too Much

Harvard's women fencers also found Columbia much more than it could handle. Led by Olympian Ann Marsh, the Lions did with the Crimson as they pleased, winning the foil competition (the only division for women) easily.

Harvard Captain Mayling Birney scored the team's sole two points.

But despite its sound defeat at the hands of the Lions, Crimson coaches and players were pleased with the team's overall performance.

"Obviously Columbia is one of the best schools in the country," Said Harvard Coach Branimir Zivkovic. "But I think we fenced extremely well."

The Crimson fared considerably better against the Big Red, as Harvard's men won two out of the three divisions and the women triumphed in foil, 10-6.

The Crimson men took the foil, 8-1, the epee, 4-2, but lost 6-3 in sabre.

On the women's side, the Crimson benefited from playing Columbia before Cornell.

"I thought we were warmed up," Birney said. "We compete on the same level [as Cornell] so it was definitely a victory."

The competition ended with a brief ceremony honoring the Harvard-Cornell fencing rivalry over the years. Cornell plans to drop fencing at the end of this year due to budgetary constraints.