The men's team (1-7, 0-4 Ivy) struggled to replace a crop of graduates and maintain a full roster, and its primary goal became building a cohesive team around a strong freshman class.

"It would be fair to call this a rebuilding year," said co-captain-elect Davin Chew. "We lost a good senior in Mike Gattnar and we had trouble putting together a full roster all year."

Gattnar earned First-Team All-American honors last season after winning the epee division of IFAs, and later placed fifth at NCAAs.

The Crimson placed 11th of 12 teams at IFAs, a performance redeemed by sophomore co-captain-elect Eugene Cha's eighth-place finish in the epee.

"We had freshmen filling in several starting positions because of the lack of numbers," Chew said. "It was tough keeping morale up, but this year was about proving something to ourselves, and about getting the freshmen's feet wet, and just doing the best that we could."

Harvard will begin the 1999-2000 campaign with two new slates of sabre fencers. The men's team graduates all of its sabres, and next season will represent the first that the IFA and NCAA will recognize women's sabre.

The Crimson will also lose Coach Ben Zivkovic, who retired this season after 23 years of mentoring the Harvard fencing program. Zivkovic's squads won seven league and national titles, more than at any other time in school history.