MADISON, N.J. - The Haverford College men's fencing team delivered another strong showing at the Mid-Atlantic College Fencing Association (MACFA) Championships at Drew University on Sunday afternoon, finishing fifth overall out of 14 teams. The foil squad earned silver for the third consecutive season, the epee squad secured a fourth-place finish, and the sabre squad placed seventh.
The format featured a round-robin among 14 schools in IFA format (one bout per fencer per school, totaling nine bouts per match). Based on team results, 16 fencers in each weapon advanced to the individual portion of the competition.
The foil squad of Dean Myers, Oliver Po, and Michael Pyo excelled in earning another silver medal for the Fords. The trio combined for 35 wins, second only to Johns Hopkins, with Oliver Po earning 11, Myers logging 13, and Michael Pyo adding 11.
In the individual DE tableau, Oliver Po earned the top seed and opened with a 15-4 victory over Massimo Arana of Rutgers in the Round of 16. He then defeated Dev Badlani of Stevens, 15-8, to advance to the semifinals, where he faced teammate Myers. Myers advanced to the matchup after defeating Michael Pyo, 15-10, in the Round of 16 and Spencer Grossman-Smisek of Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinals. Myers took the all-Haverford semifinal by a 15-7 margin, setting up a championship bout against Josh Sima of Johns Hopkins. Myers prevailed, 15-12, to claim the individual title while Po claimed the bronze.
In epee, Eric Chen contributed 10 wins, Jack Richards logged seven, Ian Alvarez added five, and Kenji Gullo recorded four as Haverford secured a fourth-place team finish. Chen advanced to the DE tableau, where he defeated Samuel Kobi of Cornell, 15-10, in the Round of 16 before falling to Cornell's Nihal Bankulla in a 15-11 decision. Chen finished seventh overall.
The sabre squad of Stephen Yarosh (six wins), Osaretin Idahor (three wins), Andy Loo (one win), Ryotaro Sakazaki (six wins), and Greg Roumiantsev (one win) placed seventh overall but did not qualify an individual for the top 16.
With conference championship weekend complete, Haverford will next compete at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional on Saturday, March 7. Select Fords will compete inside Alumni Field House beginning at 9 a.m., with the full list of regional qualifiers to be announced early next week.
