Acorn

As the rest of the Drew winter sports teams completed losing seasons, the men�s and women�s fencing teams ensured at least another week by sweeping competition at their regional tournaments.

On Sunday, the women fenced at the Eastern Women�s Fencing Conference Tournament at Stevens Institute of Technology, while the men traveled to New Jersey Institute of Technology for their final regular season meet.

Defeating Stevens, Haverford College, City College of New York, Hunter College and Yeshiva University, the Ranger women claimed their fourth straight EWFC title. None of its opponents gave Drew much of a scare. The Rangers cruised through the tournament to bring their season-long record to 16-9 overall and 13-1 in the EWFC.

Women�s fencing powerhouse Haverford put up the best fight in the meet, but fell to the dominant Rangers 18-9. Home team Stevens finished second and Haverford rounded out the top three.

Taking the title was nothing new to the Ranger women, who completed the feat without the help of Head Coach Dayn DeRose. �I attended the men�s meet, because we�ve won the EWFC three years in a row and I realized that odds are, [the women] will not need as much help � the women are just that strong,� DeRose said.

With DeRose present, the Drew men won their final Middle Atlantic Conference Fencing Association meet in similar fashion, beating five top MACFA teams on the same day. Most impressively, the Rangers downed Stevens by a 20-7 score, despite The Star-Ledger�s earlier prediction that the Ducks would take the tournament title.

�There was a certain amount of bragging in print about how strong Stevens was this year in some of the local papers,� DeRose said. �So it was great that the score did not reflect that. Stevens actually sent out a press release [after the meet] that they were proud to have finished second to us.�

The Rangers also fought off NJIT, Hunter College, Yeshiva University and Johns Hopkins University en route to the championship. The men were challenged most by Johns Hopkins � a regular MACFA threat. However, the Rangers squeaked out a 15-12 win over the Blue Jays after freshman Mike Heumann delivered the winning punch.

�We were up 13-5 after saber and epee, but then we came to JHU�s strongest weapon [foil] with which they beat Duke this year,� DeRose said. �They were looking to win nine bouts in a row in foil, and they probably could have done it. We were having a lot of trouble until Heumann got in to fence the strongest JHU fencer, a guy with a very direct, forceful, strong, nasty attack. But Heumann had a nastier one, and he kept getting touches. When the fifth touch hit, I found myself screaming at the top of my lungs.�

At 13-6 overall, the men completed the regular season undefeated in MACFA meets.

This weekend, the Rangers will be tested again. The women will compete in the regional championship at Tufts University tomorrow, and the men will attempt to claim the MACFA tournament title on Sunday. The teams will most likely send all their members � a true feat that shows just how dominant the Rangers have become in the world of collegiate fencing.

�When I first got to Drew, we were really proud to have regional qualifiers, but now we just expect everyone to go,� DeRose said.

Both meets will determine Drew�s NCAA tournament qualification. �I�m hoping for some national qualifiers again this year,� DeRose said. �My magic number would be three, but you really have no idea until it�s done.�

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