The club fencing team placed fifth at the New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference championships last weekend, the highest ranked club team to compete in the Mt. Holyoke College event.
The team has dominated its matches this season. Both the men and women’s club teams are the top club teams in their league.
At Mt. Holyoke, women’s foil had the best finish. Dartmouth, which was the only club team to get a squad medal came in second behind the team from Brandeis University. The team was led by Phoebe Liang ’17, who won the women’s foil individuals event.
In the men’s épée squad, Adam Omar ’15 won an individual bronze. His 21-9 season record earned him second team all-star honors. The men’s épée squad finished fourth as a team, behind the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sacred Heart University and Brandeis, all varsity teams.
“Our main priority is building a team culture that everyone feels comfortable in,” Omar said. “Everyone is driven to work harder by the person next to them. The team is putting in tremendous effort and hours.”
This competition followed a strong performance from earlier in the month. On Feb. 8, the team competed at the University of New Hampshire. The men defeated the University of Massachusetts club team, Boston University and the UNH club team while falling to varsity squads from Vassar College and Sacred Heart University.
The women defeated Smith College, Wellesley College, the University of Massachusetts, Boston University and UNH while losing to Vassar and Sacred Heart.The club team, which does not have a coach, relies on members to lead practices and has gained recognition for its success.
“It’s really exciting for the team to get these types of results,” co-captain Scott Brookes ’14 said. “We’ve gained a lot of respect from varsity coaches and the administrators of our league and conference.”
The women’s foil squad including Liang, Lily Ma ’17, Gaby Stern ’14 and Heather Szilagyi ’15 were undefeated in the conference for the season.
Liang tallied a 32-4 record on the season to earn first team all-star honors. Stern and Omar were also honored as second team all-stars, finishing the season with 28-7 and 21-9 records, respectively.
Their stellar performances included victories over both other club teams and NCAA varsity teams.
The team has worked practiced five days a week for two hours and is proud of its result especially because it is only a club squad, Ma said.
“We defeated many varsity teams, so we beat many recruited athletes, which is a big deal for us,” she said.
The team will return to the piste next weekend at the New England Club Championships hosted by UNH.
Szilagyi is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
