HAVERFORD, Pa. - The eighth annual D'Arnstein '09 Fencing Invitational was held this past Saturday, Dec 9, in the Alumni Field House on the Haverford campus. The Fords played hosts to local rivals Drexel and Swarthmore, as well as MACFA conference competitors Maryland and Johns Hopkins. 

 

Walk-ons and first-years were given some of their first attempts at competing against Swarthmore, Drexel, and Maryland, for comfortable wins, but the Haverford starting lineup had difficulty handling JHU, losing 22-5 in the third round of competition. 

 

Prem Bhatt led the sabrists with three wins on the day, while Ryotaro Sakazaki, fresh from the Fencing PE class, had his first collegiate win against Swarthmore. Neville Linden picked up sabre's only win vs JHU, defeating Kostov 5-1 in emphatic fashion.

 

Carrying all the water versus the local teams, Henry Bishop went undefeated for the foil squad with a steady 9-0 record. Andrew Strayer and Henry Fedonchik both picked on JHU's Alan Zheng for foil's two wins against the Blue Jays. 

 

Epeeist Eric Chen led all fencers on the day with a 2-1 record vs JHU, and picked up six more wins against the other teams during the tournament.  

 

The Fords will wrap up their fall semester with the Iron Being tournament this week, and will return for their Winter training camp in early January. Their next official competition will be at the Penn State Invitational on January 14, taking on the Nittany Lions as well as Duke, Yale, Penn, and North Carolina. 

 

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