BALTIMORE - This Sunday, February 8th, the Haverford College men's fencing team competed at a MACFA (Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association) Conference Tournament at Johns Hopkins University. The Fords defeated rivals William and Mary, University of Virginia, University of Maryland, and the US Naval Academy, but lost to host JHU.

The Fords were led by an undefeated epee squad, who downed the Hopkins epeeists 5-4, and dominated the rest of the field. Sophomore Eric Gardner went 5-1 in the first two rounds, including two wins against JHU, and then subbed out to make room for Freshman Ian Wheeler. Wheeler turned in the best performance of his career so far with an 8-1 record on the day. Stalwarts Kailash Faris and Jake Bassinder, with records of 10-5 and 11-4 respectively, helped continue the tradition of Haverford epee dominance in the MACFA stretching back over 50 years.

For the sabrists, sophomore Ching Li led the way with an 8-7 record, closely followed by the evenly matched captain Joshua Nadel (7-8) and Ben Cattau (6-9).  Li had a solid run with undefeated matches against Virginia and Maryland.

As for the foilists, Sophomore Aldis Gamble had a stellar day with two wins over JHU and an overall record of 12-3, matching the result of captain Max Findley. Findley and Gamble led all Fords fencers at the tournament with those 12-3 records. However, the story of the day for the foilists was the grit and tactics of freshman Devin Louis. Louis showed tremendous improvement with his first winning record at a competition (9-6) including an undefeated sweep of Navy.

The Haverford men's fencing team will next host the Alumni matches and banquet on February 21, followed by its MACFA Conference Championship back at JHU on March 1.

Haverford def. William & Mary, 16-11
Epee: 5-4
Foil: 8-1
Sabre: 3-6

Johns Hopkins def. Haverford, 20-7
Epee: 4-5
Foil: 7-2
Sabre: 9-0

Haverford def. Maryland, 22-5
Epee: 8-1
Foil: 7-2
Sabre: 7-2

Haverford def. Virginia, 25-2
Epee: 9-0
Foil: 7-2
Sabre: 9-0

Haverford def. Navy, 18-9
Epee: 7-2
Foil: 9-0
Sabre: 2-7