Men: From Peak to Valley

For the Harvard men's fencing squad, it was a tale of two seasons.

Traveling with the women fencers in an identical schedule, the men mimicked the success of the women's team for the first five matches of the season. In fact the first matches of the season seemed to predict a stellar season for the men--Harvard crushed MIT, Brown, Tufts and Boston University in convincing fashion, at least doubling up each opponent in scoring.

In its first match of December, Harvard edged Brandeis 14-13, to extend its record to 5-0. Unfortunately, that victory would be the Crimson's last in the match season.

Harvard dropped a close 16-11 match at Columbia, then was pummeled by St. John's, 21-6. After the exam period, Harvard dropped another close one to Penn, then finished its match season with losses to Yale and Princeton.

Still Harvard would fare relatively well on the national scale, finishing fifth out of 11 teams at the IFA Championships, then snagging eighth place at the NCAA Championships.

Several individuals stood out for Harvard despite the team's lackluster second half. Senior Greg Chang occupied a spot on the First Team Foil, and junior Michal Gattnar held a place on the First Team Epee with an 11-1 Ivy mark (27-3 overall). Captain Lee Scheffler garnered Second Team Sabre honors