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Season Review: Men's Fencing Carries on Strong Tradition

Season Review: Men's Fencing Carries on Strong Tradition
Posted: Mar 20, 2019

Season overview: Squaring off with opponents from a schedule that annually is laden with Division I foes, the Haverford College men's fencing team racked up 15 wins and placed fourth at the MACFA Championships this year. The Fords defeated Division I foe Brown to highlight some of their success against their perennially strong schedule.

Haverford concluded its MACFA dual competition schedule with an overall record of 8-5. The Fords' sabrists were once again among the best in the conference as they placed second as a weapon squad at the conference championship. Haverford's foil and epee squads were fourth and seventh, respectively. Kadan Lottick replicated his bronze medal performance in epee during the individual portion of the MACFA Championships, while sabre sensation David Parker placed fifth overall. The Fords sent five qualifiers to what is widely considered the toughest regional in all of NCAA fencing, the Mid-Atlantic/South.

Season Notes: With 15 team victories this season, head coach Chris Spencer recorded the 200th victory of his career at Haverford on the men's side … Spencer is the only coach in school history to lead the men's team to 20-plus dual wins in a season, doing so on three different occasions while also leading three MACFA Championship squads … The Fords wrapped up a 10-match winning streak, which began last spring, at the Sollee Invitational … That stretch is tied for the fourth-longest winning streak in program history and the team's most consecutive wins since the 2011-12 campaign … Kadan Lottick is now a two-time medalist in epee, winning bronze medals at the championship meet during each of the past two seasons … Senior David Parker made his first career appearance in the MACFA individual finals, placing fifth overall … The Fords have now had a sabre finalist at the MACFA Championships during each of the past four seasons, winning the 2017 squad championship during that span … John Hare placed 13th at the NCAA Regional Championships, falling just one touch shy of a finals appearance and the "at-large" seat to the NCAA Championships … Hare was the top Division III sabrist at the regional … Haverford has qualified three sabrists to the NCAA Regional Championships during each of the past three seasons.

Honors/Awards

Looking ahead: The Fords graduate two seniors from the 2018-19 team in David Parker and Gabriel Braun. Parker capped his career as a four-time regional qualifier in sabre while Braun was a three-time qualifier in sabre before the co-captain switched to the epee squad during the final semester of his collegiate fencing career to benefit the team. Even with those losses to graduation, the Fords will still have plenty of talent returning as the rising senior class has found tremendous success throughout the past three seasons. John Hare (sabre), Jack Leighninger (foil), and Kadan Lottick (epee) have each qualified to the regional championship during their first three seasons, with Hare just missing a spot at nationals this spring. Hare was also a MACFA silver medalist during his sabre's championship season in 2017. The Fords' fourth senior, Yan Yan Xie, did advance to the regional finals in foil during the 2016-17 season. Nicholas Conroy was the breakout star from the first-year class as he advanced to regionals for the sabre squad. Rising juniors Carter Langen and Alton Wiggers also notched impressive wins throughout their foil seasons while classmates Raynor Bond-Ashpole (epee) and Kagan Harris (sabre) also return alongside rising sophomore Adrian Velonis. Wiggers was a regional qualifier during the 2018 championships.

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