Red Finishes Last at IFC Championships in New York City

The fencing team traveled to New York City yesterday to participate in the 111th Intercollegiate Fencing Championships — the longest-running college athletic championships in the nation — hosted by Columbia University. In a field of 12 schools, Cornell ended the day in fourth place among women’s teams, but placed 12th overall.

The field was made up of the seven Ivy League schools — all except Dartmouth. The Ancient Eight’s seven representatives were joined by Brandeis, Boston College, New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vassar. [1]Watch where you're pointing that: Despite a strong showing on Sunday, the Red finished 12th overall at this year’s IFA Championships.

The Red came into the match already at a disadvantage relative to its 11 opponents. Without a men’s team, half of Cornell’s potential victories were already lost. The Red ended the day 52-46 to finish fourth among women, but did not get any additional bout victories from a men’s team to keep up with the other schools in overall standings.

The Penn women took first place in the Women’s Three-Weapon Championship, winning 75 bouts. Columbia was next with 68 wins. Columbia also took first-place overall, going 137-51 between the men and women in the epee, sabre and foil.

Cornell’s top performer was junior Alex Heiss, who competed in the saber competition. After finishing 10th and fourth in the previous two years, Heiss came into the individual championships as the No. 4 seed. After beating Columbia junior Deborah Gorth, 15-11, Heiss lost in the second round to Columbia sophomore, and eventual sabre champion, Randy Alevi, 15-9.