By Mikael Haxby
Guest Writer
Following a somewhat disappointing 2-2 multi-meet at home last weekend, the Fords traveled to Drew, in North Jersey, to battle conference foes Drew, NJIT, Yeshiva and Stevens. The Fords came into the day 4-5 in conference competition, paced by identical 7-2 records by the foil and epee squads.
In the 10 a.m. meet against Drew, the Fords had a score to settle, as Drew was scheduled to meet Haverford at a January event, but backed out for vague reasons, protesting that some of their best fencers were not healthy to play. With these top fencers back for Drew, Haverford still wasted little time in dispatching them 15-12, led by 7-2 victories by both the foil and epee squads. Mikael Haxby ’01, Asa Hopkins ’01, S.I. Newhouse ’03 and Sam Cone ’03 scored perfect 3-0 records for the meet.
NJIT and Yeshiva, neither typical contenders in the MAC Conference, took 18-9 and 15-12 beatings, respectively. Foil’s 8-1 win over NJIT led that victory, and a balanced 6-3 foil, 6-3 epee, and 3-6 saber record kept Yeshiva down.
Stevens Tech, from Hoboken, NJ came next, a team to whom the Fords took a painful loss last year, and then Haverford, pumped from their 3-0 meet thus far, held strong. Another powerful 8-1 foil victory, along with six in epee blazed the way to a decisive 16-11 meet victory, capping an outstanding day.
The 4-0 tally for the day pushed the Fords overall record on the year to 8-5, a significant improvement from the last year, and one the senior-less team expects to further improve next season. The epee and foil squads also took 4-0 records home, upping already impressive statistics to identical 11-2 marks, good for the top two or three in the conference in each weapon. Haxby and Newhouse took 10-2 records away from Drew, while fellow foilist Darien Bacon ’02 had his own 9-3. Hopkins led all fencers with an impressive 11-1 bout tally, and Cone added a 10-2 mark. Nathaniel Rounds ’02 led an insurgent saber squad with a solid 5-7 showing. The Fords now look forward to conference championships in one week. The team is wild-eyed and optimistic about their chances.
