In the first Ivy Round Robin two weeks ago, freshman foil Zane Grodman defeated Columbia's Kurt Getz by a score of 3-0 in 30 seconds.
In yesterday's second round robin, hosted by Brown, Grodman recorded yet another 3-0 victory against another previous All-Ivy first teamer. This time it was Harvard's senior captain Kai Itameri-Kinter.
His efforts helped the men's fencing team capture its first Ivy League Championship since the 2000-01 season, capping an undefeated campaign that couldn't even be stopped by the threat of meningococcal infection.
"We had a lot of fun today," coach Dave Micahnik said. "The men fought like tigers, pardon the expression."
The Penn men defeated a strong Harvard team and Yale by scores of 16-11 and 22-5, respectively.
In the Quakers' much anticipated bout against the Crimson, it was obvious that Penn (17-0, 5-0 Ivy) was going to win sabre (which it did, 6-3) and that Harvard (9-9, 1-4) was going to win epee (which it did, 5-4). In the end, the match came down to Penn's three freshmen foils. Despite their youth, they held on to win, 6-3.
Against Yale (7-7, 1-4), the Quakers cruised to victory by winning all three categories by a large margin (8-1 sabre, 7-2 epee, 7-2 foil).
"Everyone was tremendously enthusiastic," Micahnik said.
Many Quakers garnered All-Ivy honors following the completion of yesterday's competition.
Grodman was named to the All-Ivy first team in foil, while fellow freshmen foils Vidur Kapur and Alex Simmons garnered second team honors.
Junior sabres Jon Berkowsky and Andrew Bielen also were named to the All-Ivy first team, while in epee, senior captain Ben Wieder and sophomore Jacob Wischnia were named to the second team.
Although the men stole the show, the women's fencing team got wins of its own yesterday in Providence, R.I.
The Quakers defeated Cornell 16-11 and Yale 21-6, but couldn't make it a sweep, losing to Harvard 15-12.
"[They] were only a few touches away from beating Harvard," Micahnik said of the women's team (14-5, 3-3). "The enthusiasm was just as high for the women as it was for the men."
Harvard (20-1, 6-0) went on to win the Ivy League title.
A number of Penn women recorded outstanding records yesterday. Freshman sabre Dominika Franciskowicz and sophomore sabre Danielle Kamis were 8-1 and 7-2, respectively, and both garnered All-Ivy second team honors.
Freshmen foils Laura Paragano and Mia Howell were 7-2 and 6-3, respectively, and also were named to the All-Ivy second team.
The men's undefeated Ivy League season is truly historic. The last time they didn't lose in a season was in the 1998-99 campaign.
"On Thursday, I told the men that they have persuaded me that they are a very good team," Micahnik mused. "Now everybody knows."
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