Jacobson Wins Gold as Lions Place Fifth

Columbia first-year Emily Jacobson won the women's sabre title and classmate Morgan Midgley won bronze in epee as the Lions placed fifth in the overall team standings at the NCAA Championships. The Lions were the top Ivy League finisher and had seven student-athletes earn All-American honors.

In sixth place after the men's competition finished on Friday, Columbia's women fencers performed outstandingly well to push the Lions above Harvard and into fifth place in the combined overall team standings. Notre Dame won the NCAA Championship while Ohio State, which won the men's title, placed second overall. St. John's placed third and Penn State took fourth, just eight points ahead of Columbia.

The best performance for the Lions was turned in by first-year Emily Jacobson. She defeated Olympic gold medalist Mariel Zagunis in the gold medal bout to win the NCAA title. Jacobson was in third place at the end of the seven round opening set, but defeated Valerie Providenza of Notre Dame in the semifinal round to set up the match against Zagunis. In a gold medal match between two of the three members of the U.S. Women's Sabre squad from the 2004 Olympics, Jacobson came out on top to become Columbia's first NCAA Champion since Tzu Moy won the women's foil gold in 1990.

Fellow first-year Morgan Midgley took third place and earned first team All-American honors in women's epee. Midgley completed the first seven rounds with 17 victories and defeated Holly Buechel of Penn to take the bronze medal. Midgley was given an at-large bid to the NCAAs as one of the best non-automatic qualifiers in the country.

Three other women performed very well to secure the fifth place finish and gain All-American honors. Emma Baratta placed eighth in women's sabre to earn second team All-American honors. It is the third time that Baratta has earned either first or second team All-American honors.

Sophomore Cassidy Luitjen won honorable mention All-American honors as she placed 11th in women's foil and classmate Alexie Rubin garnered the same accolades with her 12th place finish in foil. Both earned the same distinction last season as well.

For the men, Alex Krul and Scott Sugimoto were named second team All-American in sabre and foil, respectively. Paul Reyfman earned honorable mention in sabre as well.

Team Standings

Place School Total

1 Notre Dame 173

2 Ohio State 171

3 St. John's 162

4 Penn State 145

5 Columbia/Barnard 137

6 Harvard 134

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Emma Baratta

Paul Reyfman

Alexie Rubin

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