Fencing cruises by Tufts, Dartmouth

The only way to describe the Johns Hopkins Mens and Womens Fencing teams seasons is promising. The way they have started this season has done nothing but fortify their position among other colleges. The Men's season began at the Temple Open where many finished with great rankings.

Hopkins hosted St. Johns, Yeshiva and Virginia Tech and also initiated its winning streak. They beat Virginia Tech, 18-9, St. Johns (MD), 21-6 and Yeshiva, 22-5. Freshman Brian Bische and sophomore Matt Bouloubasis were perfect in their matches, 8-0 with the foil and epee respectively. In the sabre, Hopkin's Ryan Schwerzmann was their top performer with a 7-2 record.

Not only are the experienced fencers doing well, freshman James Chen understands that there is also potential with the new fencers thanks to the others' guidance.

Chen predicts, "Under the supervision of our jocular Coach Oles, el Capit?n Schwerzmann and the returning varsity, I believe that the freshmen fencers will carve out a niche of their own in Hopkins' fencing tradition."

Hopkins looked to the Tufts Invitational to continue their success, where they defeated Tufts 14-13. After that close match, they beat Sacred Heart with a 27-0 victory thanks to a Sacred Heart forfeit. Their next opponent was Boston College, who delivered the Blue Jays their first loss of the year 11-16.

Their schedule took them to New Hampshire, where they earned three victories against Massachusetts 17-10, Dartmouth 22-5 and New Hampshire 18-9.

Dan Rosenthal and Daniel Frank both had good showings in foil with 11-3 records. Bouloubasis also went 14-1 in epee.

Chen also sees a closely knit team, "I'm really glad to see camaraderie developing within the team." The Men's Fencing team is off until Jan. 5, when they will play against former Hopkins' fencers in their annual Alumni Competition.

The women's season has just began, as they participated in the annual Penn State Garret Open. Georgiana Lee finished 10th, and Joy Wu finished a strong 19th in epee, while in sabre Allison Barker finished 11th.

Wu sees a very strong team this year, "In addition to our experienced fencers,we have many newcomers who are very enthusiastic about the sport. Under the guidance of our new coach, James Murray, all of us are very excited about this season, which is looking very promising."

The women's fencing team will be in action again on Dec. 2 at Fairleigh Dickinson.