The fencing team will be back in action this weekend in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where the Red will face Vassar University and Yeshiva University.
After three weeks off, the team returned to campus last week to resume training for the second half of its season. Conditioning and training sessions have prepared the team for its first competition of the new year.
Cornell was victorious over Vassar last year. The Red has never competed against Yeshiva, but head coach Al Peters anticipates that his athletes will be much stronger than Yeshiva’s team.
The team is eagerly anticipating its first match-up of 2004.
“We have the normal butterflies,” Peters said, “as before any competition. But we’ve trained hard, we’re ready.”
The Red finished 2003 with a pair of tough losses to Harvard and Yale.
“We had two sad losses,” Peters said. “We fenced well but were overwhelmed by form. But we will continue to dominate in epee and try to get stronger in foil.”
Meghan Phair, a 2003 All-America epee selection, was the only member of the team to see action over the break. She traveled to San Jose, Calif., to compete in the United States Fencing Association’s Junior Northern American Circuit. Phair returned home with the gold medal in epee at this prestigious competition.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Peter’s said of Phair’s latest accomplishment. Phair can be expected to turn in another strong performance on the road this weekend.
Archived article by Olivia Dwyer