COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Haverford College men's fencing team competed in the 60th Annual Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association (MACFA) championships hosted by the University of Maryland on Saturday.
Unable to overtake late rallies from Johns Hopkins and Stevens Institute of Technology, the Fords placed third of 15 teams, ending their streak as MACFA champions at three in a row.
Haverford started strong and held the lead at the midway point of the tournament, but were unable to win their direct match-ups against Johns Hopkins and Stevens in the cumulative, war-of-attrition day-long tournament.
The Fords' foil squad placed second, behind only Drew University, while the sabre squad placed third and epee was seventh.
Qualifying out of the team rounds, the individual rounds in the evening featured sabrist Aaron Ruby, who placed second, and foilists Baptiste Teyssier and Sam Levinson, placing fourth and eighth respectively. Ruby, who lost just once in team play, first topped Johns Hopkins' Josiah Yu, but fell in the final round to Blake Gordon of the US Military Academy. Teyssier benefited from a withdrawal of Drew's top-seeded foilist, James Weiss, to get to the medal round, but lost to JHU's Petrie in the semifinals.
The Fords will next compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships on Saturday, March 9, to be held at Lafayette College.