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AROUND THE QUADSRoar Lion Roar: Lions Sweep Ivy Fencing Crowns
Columbia’s fencers display the Ivy League championship trophies they won at Princeton’s Jadwin Gym on February 10. Holding the trophies are sabre fencers Trevis Joyner ’11 (left) and Jackie Jacobson ’11. Coach George Kolombatovich is at the top of the photo. Photo: Etta Kolombatovich  Columbia’s traditionally strong fencing program added two more Ivy League championships to its ledger when the Lions swept the two-weekend event in February. The Lion women finished 6–0 and the men 5–0 to complete Columbia’s first Ivy sweep since the 2002–03 season. “I’ve never seen dominance like that at the Ivy championships,” said Columbia’s 30-year veteran coach, George Kolombatovich. “It was a great showing for our teams.” It was the second straight Ivy crown for the Columbia women, who also were 6–0 last year. The Columbia men shared the title last year, but won it outright for the first time since 2004. Columbia’s men have won or shared the title in seven of the past eight years and have won or shared the title 33 times since it was first contested in 1956–57. Columbia’s women have won eight Ivy titles since competition began in 1981–82 (Barnard competed for the first two seasons, before Columbia began admitting women). The deciding bouts took place over the first weekend of fencing at Yale, as Columbia defeated a surprising Penn team that beat its other opponents. Harvard, which was expected to compete with Columbia for the title, bowed before the Light Blue men 18–9 and women 17–10 on the second weekend at Princeton. Of the 18 Columbia fencers who competed, 16 made either first or second-team All-Ivy, which is based on individual records in the tournament. What’s more, in all six disciplines — men’s and women’s sabre, men’s and women’s épeé and men’s and women’s foil — the Lions took the top spot in the All-Ivy selections. “We won every weapon. That’s just awesome!” said men’s sabrist Alex Diacou ’08, one of the team’s five captains. “There is such a good combination of talent, youth and seniority on this team,” Kolombatovich said. “It is really encouraging for our future to see such a young group do so well and the other Ivies realize that if we are this good now, how strong we might be in the future.” The Lions are hopeful of doing even better than last year’s team, which finished third in the nation at the NCAA championships. This year’s NCAAs will be held March 13–16 at Ohio State in Columbus. Following are Columbia’s All-Ivy fencers for the 2007-08 season:
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