Many of the nation's top collegiate fencers currently compete for Ivy League teams. The 14 fencers highlighted below include four from Harvard (three women), three from Princeton (two women), three Penn men, three Columbia women, and one Yale woman. The 14 hail from seven different states/foreign countries: New York (5), New Jersey (4), California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Texas and Israel.
Here's a recap of top freshman performers at the Ivy League Round-Robin Championships (part-1), held Feb. 8 at Columbia:
Caroline Vloka (12-0 ... Women's Sabre; Harvard; Upper Saddle River, NJ) ... key wins: 5-3 vs. Cornell's Alex Heiss (three-time NCAA participant), swept Columbia's freshman duo Sammy Roberts (5-2) and Stephanie Aiuto (5-1).
Lucile Jarry (9-0 ... Women's Foil; Princeton; Larchmont, NY) ... key wins: swept Harvard trio that includes Olympian Emily Cross (5-3) and '08 NCAA entrants Anna Podolsky (5-3) and Arielle Pensler (5-0), also beat Penn All-American Ilana Sinkin (5-4), Penn newcomer Laura Paragano (5-3) and Cornell '08 NCAA qualifier Jessica Tranquada (5-1).
Alexander Mills (6-0 ... Men's Foil; Princeton; Milburn, NJ) ... key wins: topped the Harvard duo of All-American Kai Itameri-Kinter (5-2) and '08 NCAA participant Long Ouyang (5-1).
Noam Mills (11-1 ... Women's Epee; Harvard; Kfar Saba, Israel) ... key wins: the 2008 Olympian swept the Princeton trio of All-American Jasjit Bhinder (5-0), '08 all-Ivy League performer Chandler Clay (5-2) and elite newcomer Susannah Scanlan (5-4), adding two key 5-1 wins over Columbia fencers (Martyna Urbanowicz and freshman Neely Brandfield-Harvey) while also topping Cornell '08 NCAA entrants Tasha Hall (5-2) and Sallie Dietrech (5-1) ... her lone defeat came by a single touch (4-5), against Columbia two-time NCAA participant Tess Finkel (see below).
Valentin Staller (8-1 ... Men's Sabre; Harvard; Old Field, NY) ... key wins: handed Columbia All-Amreican Jeff Spear his only loss of the day (5-4), also topping Princeton '08 NCAA entrant John Stogin (5-1) ... lost to Yale senior Sebastian Cano-Besquet (3-5).
Susannah Scanlan (8-1 ... Women's Epee; Princeton; St. Paul, MN) ... key wins: topped Harvard All-American Maria Larsson (5-4) and Cornell '08 NCAA entrants Sallie Dietrech (5-0) and Tasha Hall (5-4) ... her only loss came 4-5 to the national fencer of the week, Harvard's Noam Mills (see above).
Sammy Roberts (10-2 ... Women's Sabre; Columbia; Upper Saddle River, NJ) ... key wins: posted pair of 5-2 wins over Penn fencers ('08 NCAA entrant Alexis Baran and freshman Dominika Franciskowicz) while also beating Brown All-American Randy Alevi (5-1) ... dropped bouts to Penn All-American Danielle Kamis (0-5) and Harvard ace newcomer Carolina Vloka (see above) in a 2-5 bout between the hometown foes.
Stephanie Aiuto (10-2 ... Women's Sabre; Columbia; Great Neck, NY) ... key wins: swept the Penn sabreists (Kamis, Baren and Franciskowicz) in successive 5-4 bouts, adding 5-1 win over Brown's Alevi ... suffered her pair of losses to Yale's Jennifer Ivers and Harvard's Vloka (both 1-5).
Neely Brandfield-Harvey (9-3; Women's Epee; Columbia; Houston, TX) ... key win: 5-1 vs. Yale's Rebecca Moss ('07 NCAA entrant; '08 all-Ivy League) ... her losses came vs. Harvard All-American Maria Larsson (4-5) and elite rookie Noam Mills (1-5), plus Penn junior Kathryn Anthony (3-5)
Katharine Pitt (6-3; Women's Foil; Yale; New York, NY) ... key wins: defeated Columbia All-American Abby Caparros-Janto (5-3) and two others who have competed in previous NCAAs (5-2 vs. Harvard's Arielle Pensler; 5-3 vs. Brown's Francesca Bartholomew) ... lost to Harvard Olympian Emily Cross (3-5), Columbia All-American Nicole Ross (2-5) and Harvard freshman Shelby MacLeod (3-5).
Penn Men's Foil Team (each went 6-3) – Alex Simmons (Sonoma, CA), key wins: defeated Columbia All-American Kurt Getz (5-2) and Princeton NCAA entrant Clayton Flanders (5-1); lost to Columbia NCAA participant Sherif Farrag (1-5), Princeton freshman Alexander Mills (1-5) and Brown NCAA entrant Adam Pantel (3-5) ... Vidur Kapur (Syosset, NY), key wins: bested Columbia duo of Getz (5-3) and Farrag (3-2), along with Brown's Pantel (5-3); suffered his losses to Princeton's Flanders (2-3) and Mills (2-4), plus Columbia junior Isaac Kim (3-5) ... Zane Grodman (Califon, NJ), key wins: swept Columbia top due (5-1 vs. Getz, 5-2 vs. Farrag), also beating Princeton's Flanders and Brown's Pantel (5-3); his losses came against Princeton's Mills (4-5) Brown senior Nick Bender (4-5) and Brown sophomore Scott Phillips (2-5).
Shelby MacLeod (5-2; Women's Foil; Harvard; Sturbridge, MA) ... key wins: topped Columbia All-American Abby Caparros-Janto (5-3) and Yale freshman Katharine Pitt (5-3) ... her loss came against Columbia All-American Nicole Ross and Yale freshman Valeria Makeeva (both 1-5).