Cornell Alumna Arrested For Leaving Quarreling Kids Behind

A Cornell alumna was charged Monday with endangering a child after she ordered her quarreling daughters out of her car and left them in a White Plains, N.Y. business district three miles away from their $2 million house in Scarsdale.
Madlyn Gleich Primoff ’84, who is currently a partner at Manhattan law firm Kaye Scholer, pleaded not guilty. Meanwhile, a temporary order of protection was issued to prevent Primoff from contacting her children.
Primoff’s lawyer, Vincent Briccetti, told the Associated Press, “Madlyn is a great mother connected with a great family, and she is grateful for the outpouring of support from friends and family.”

Fencers Conclude Season in Penn.

While much of the country has been caught up in the NCAA men’s basketball finals, other winter sports, including fencing, have also been ending their seasons this month. Last weekend, four fencers traveled to State College, Penn., to fence in the 2009 NCAA Fencing Championship, where the team finished 19th out of 24 teams. Sophomore foil co-captain Jessica Tranquada came in 20th out of the 24 foilists, senior co-saber captain Alex Heiss placed 20th among the 24 saberists, and of the 25 epeeists, junior epee co-captain Tasha Hall came in 19th and junior Sallie Dietrich came in 24th.[img_assist|nid=36230|title=Lay down your weapon|desc=Cornell sent four fencers to the NCAA Fencing Championship last weekend in State College, Penn.

Fatigued Fencing Team Places 8th at IFA Championships

This past weekend, the fencing team competed in a combination team and individual tournaments at the IFA Championship. The Red first faced off as a team against 11 other squads, including the other Ivy teams, before the best players from those matches faced off in an individual tournament.
“It was a really long day,” said freshman Rebecca Hirschfeld. “It was the most bouts I’ve probably ever fenced in a competition in a day.”

Fencing Faces 12 Teams At IFA Championships

This weekend, the fencing team is hoping to improve over last weekend’s losses as it heads to Brandeis for the IFA Championships. The fencers will face off both as a team and individually against 12 teams including the Ancient Eight, Brandeis, Boston College, MIT, Vassar and NYU. [img_assist|nid=35585|title=Foiled again!|desc=Freshman Rebecca Hirschfeld crosses blades with a Yeshiva University opponent on Nov. 23 at the Andrew P. Stifel Fencing Salle.|link=node|align=right|width=|height=0]
“Last year, we placed fourth and many of us also placed well individually,” said senior co-saber captain Alex Heiss, adding that the team hopes to do just as well this year.

Fencing Falls Short at Ivy Championships

The fencing team traveled to Brown this weekend for the second half of the 2009 Ivy League Championship. The women lost to No. 5 Columbia, No. 6 Penn and Yale, leaving them in sixth place with a 1-5 Ivy record. Nevertheless, many of the fencers performed well individually and team and co-epee captain junior Katherine Thompson was named second-team All-Ivy.
“The other teams are really good,” said sophomore foil co-captain Jessica Tranquada, “but we fought hard and most people fenced well. We came really close in a lot of bouts, even if that doesn’t show in the score.”
Of the foil squad, which beat Yale, Tranquada said, “The foils did really well. We pulled together and got a lot of bouts we didn’t get in the past, so I was really proud.”

Freshman Foil Specialist Excells at Junior Olympics

Last Friday, freshman fencer Rebecca Hirschfeld traveled to Albuquerque, N.M. to participate in the Junior Olympics. She finished 29th out of the 152 women foilists, which Hirschfeld said was “exactly what I hoped to get.”
By finishing in the top 32, Hirschfeld earned national points, which automatically qualify her for the fencing summer nationals. For her, the qualification is “one less thing to worry about.”
The fencers who accumulate the highest number of national points qualify to fence in the Olympics or represent the U.S. in other international competitions.
“I didn’t just fence well in terms of results, but my actual fencing improved since I last fenced in a national competition,” said Hirschfeld.

Fencers Closer Than Last Year

The fencing team (7-7, 1-2) kicked off Ancient Eight play this weekend during the first half of the Ivy League Championship at Columbia. The women finished 1-2, beating Brown, 17-10, but losing to fifth-ranked Harvard, 6-21, and seventh-ranked Princeton, 11-16.
“The Ivy championship is the [hardest] tournament for us because there are many national, world and Olympic team members there,” said head coach Iryna Dolgikh.
Despite losses to the Tigers and the Bruins, Dolgikh said, “It’s ok, we’re getting stronger. It was a great experience.”[img_assist|nid=34912|title=Take a stab at it|desc=The fencing team went 1-2 in its first half of the Ivy League Championship, defeating Brown but falling to Harvard and Princeton.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]

Tough Competition Awaits Red Fencers

Coming off an impressive showing at the Princeton Duels two weeks ago, the fencing team is heading to Columbia this weekend. Sunday will mark the beginning of the team’s Ivy play as the women will face Brown, Princeton and Harvard, before facing the rest of the Ivy fencing teams later this month.

Fencing Outduels Top Teams at Princeton

The fencing team kicked off the spring semester on a high note, winning four of its five matches this Sunday at the Princeton Duels. The team beat Drew, North Carolina, Haverford and Duke, before losing to Temple at the end of the day.
Head coach Iryna Dolgikh attributed the team’s success to its “excellent organization, improving spirit and experience from last year. We competed against word-level fencers last year, so now we started the year stronger and more confident. We won many matches at Princeton 5-4. Even if the other team was stronger, my team fought.”
She added that the team has benefited from the return of two epeeists, seniors Sallie Dietrich and Tasha Hall, who were both abroad last semester. The epee squad as a whole was undefeated at Princeton.

Obama Brings Hope, Optimism to Kenya

After Barack Obama’s victory in November, many jubilant Americans who had stayed up late celebrating returned to work. This was not true in Kenya, where President Mwai Kibaki declared the Thursday after Election Day a public holiday.
James Mwaura ’10, who was born and raised in Kenya, said that although he was not in Kenya on Election Day, his Kenyan relatives told him the reaction “was even crazier” there, in the country where Obama’s father was born and raised.
Although Obama barely knew his Kenyan relatives, Mwaura said, “Lots of people feel a kinship to him.”