The men’s fencing team traveled to Drew University on Saturday to take on the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association A Round Robin. The Maroon and White came out victorious with wins against host Drew (16-11) and Cornell University (16-11).
The trio of senior foil Amir Whitehead, senior foil Benito Hergert and freshman sabre Nikita Kogan each went 5-1 on the day.
“I think the energy was good,” Hergert said. “We came in, we trained hard that whole week. As the season is closing out, we’re finding what’s working for us, and we’re just getting into the groove.”
Collectively, the Maroon and White won 32 of 52 bouts, with dominating marks by the foil and sabre squads at 14-4 and 12-6, respectively.
“We helped carry the team to win, and the sabres also fenced really well,” Hergert said. “It’s not just up to foil and epée, so even if epée has a rough day, the other two can stand on their own or vice versa.”
As the season winds down and MACFA championships approach, Hergert said that the key to continued success would be consistency.
“We just want to stay consistent and fence our best because when we do, we have a good chance of beating all these teams,” Hergert said.
While the foil and sabre units led the way, the epée squad had mixed results, going just 6-12 against Drew and Cornell. Senior epée Antoine Mannes noted that he was looking for the team to exhibit “better decision making” to close out some of the closer bouts.
“I’m not really worried because I think over the whole season, the epée score has been doing pretty well,” Mannes said. “I think we’ll do better in the future.”
“For the men’s team, I think it’s the strongest it’s ever been since I got here,” Mannes continued. “Especially with the sabre squad performing way better this year than the last few years.”
Next up for the Maroon and White is a trip to Brooklyn for the Long Island University Invitational, a meet that Mannes said he hoped would “create a good flow” as the postseason nears.
“We’re gonna take some pretty decent teams,” Mannes said. “They’re all gonna be harder than last weekend, so we need to be really focused.”
Disclaimer: News Editor Makenna McCall ’27 is a member of the fencing team. She did not contribute writing or reporting.
