Fencing Claims Dual Outright Ivy Titles For First Time Since 2008

NEW HAVEN, Conn.- The Columbia Lions have claimed both the Men's and Women's Ivy league Fencing Championship titles together for the first time outright since 2008. The two-day, round-robin style tournament finished Sunday, with both of the Columbia squads having undefeated records in Ivy competition. "It is great to have the men's title this year be outright and the women's back to back being solo too," Head Coach Michael Aufrichtig. "For two days, we kept fencing and we won." This was the sixth year in the row that the Columbia men's team found itself on top of the podium, but the first time outright since 2015. The women repeated this season as the outright Ivy League Champions. On Sunday, the women's squad competed in two rounds, facing both Cornell and Penn. Both teams had two bye-rounds, and began the day in the afternoon by only facing Penn. Heading into the second day of the competition, the Lions were on top of the leaderboard, with four rounds already completed and a clean 4-0 record. The Lions found themselves making quick work of the Big Red. The foilists put the exclamation on the round, winning 8-1. Iman Blow, Quinn Crum and Sylvie Binder each went undefeated on the foil strip. Next up for Columbia were the Penn Quakers. Earlier in the day, Penn took a hard loss to Yale, pushing the men to 1-3 and the women to 3-2. Columbia needed a win against Penn to guarantee outright wins for both of the squads. The Lions delivered, with the men winning 19-8, and the women registering a 20-7 victory. The Lions celebrated their joint success with tears and hugs. Six Columbia men and three women were named All-Ivy, while Sylvie Binder was named the Foil Individual Champion, finishing the weekend with an undefeated 14-0 record. Columbia resumes competition on Wednesday, Feb. 13 with the George Kolombatovich Memorial Meet against NYU, Vassar and Sacred Heart. On March 10, the Lions host the NCAA Regionals at Vassar College. ALL IVY RECOGNITION: Men's Sabre: Andrew Doddo (CC)- 1st team Calvin Liang (CC)- 2nd team Men's Foil: Sam Moelis (CC)- 1st team Nolen Scruggs (CC)- 1st team Sidarth Kumbla (CC)- 2nd team Men's Epee: Cedric Mecke (CC)- 2nd team Women's Sabre: Nora Burke (CC)- 1st team Women's Foil: Sylvie Binder (CC)- 1st team and Overall Individual Champion Iman Blow (CC)- 1st te