POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.—Led by a Gold medal performance by Teddy Lombardo (men's epee) and three Silver Medal performances from Sylvie Binder (women's foil), Justin Haddad (men's epee), and Vera Kong (women's sabre), Columbia-Barnard Fencing put together a successful 2022 NCAA Northeast Regional as nine Lions placed within the top-4 fencers in their respective weapon competitions Sunday at Vassar's Walker Field House. Final results from the Northeast Regional are posted here.
 
Heading into the eight-hour, 18-team event, Columbia-Barnard's goal was to automatically qualify the maximum 12 fencers for the upcoming NCAA Championships (maximum of two fencers in each weapon, per gender). Columbia Head Coach Michael Aufrichtig is confident that the Lions qualified 12 fencers on Sunday.
 
"Just like every NCAA Regional, the goal is to qualify all 12 fencers for the NCAA Championships," Aufrichtig said. "I'm proud of and impressed with the entire team today. There were many occasions where on- touch here, one-touch there could have knocked someone out, but they rose to the occasion and got that one touch to move onto the next round. Some of our first-years and sophomores did well, our upperclassmen also rose to the occasion and did some amazing things."
 
Lombardo and Haddad finished 1-2 atop the men's epee competition. Lombardo finished the entire day with a 20-3 record and dominated the final round, winning 10 of his 11 bouts. Haddad completed the day with a 16-6 overall record and 7-3 in the final round.
 
Columbia's women dominated competition as the Lions claimed five medals. In her final NCAA Regional appearance, Binder earned a medal for the third time in her career while compiling a 19-4 overall record. She led a trio of fencers who entered the competition as the top-3 seeds in women's foil as Zander Rhodes earned the Bronze Medal with a 19-4 overall record and Delphine De Vore took seventh with an 18-5 record.
 
Kong entered the women's sabre competition as the No. 11 seed. She motored through the first round undefeated at 6-0, went 5-1 in the second,  and then finished the day off with an impressive eight wins out of 11 in the final to take the Silver. Burke was equally impressive as she went 15-8 on the day, including 7-4 in the final to earn the Bronze Medal. In her first regional competition, Chloe Gouhin took sixth place.
 
Ariana Mangano put together a successful day in women's epee that saw her finish with the Bronze Medal and 17-6 overall record. Mangano was followed by Audrey Chu, who took fifth, and Valentina Bos, who placed seventh.
 
Columbia's men's foilists placed 4, 5, and 6 as Andrew Zheng (13-10) took fourth place, Ivy League champion Ashton Daniel (17-6) placed fifth, and Sidarth Kumbla (15-8) took sixth.
 
Christopher Walker rounded out Columbia's high-finishers in fourth place in the men's sabre competition with a 16-7 overall record.
 
Sunday's Northeast Regional marked the start of postseason fencing for the highly ranked Lions squads. Columbia's men rank No. 2 in the recent U.S. Fencing coaches' poll, while the Lions' women's team ranks No. 3. The next coaches' poll will be announced later this week.
 
Today's NCAA Northeast Regional competition helps determine the qualifying fencers for the NCAA Division I National Championship, which will take place in the Castellan Family Fencing Center at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. from March 24-27. Columbia hopes to send 12 fencers to South Bend. Only Columbia's top two fencers for each of the six weapons (three men's and three women's) can qualify for the National Championships. In the end, the qualifiers are determined by a formula based on 60 percent weight on regional bouts and 40 percent weight on regular season results. No qualifiers are official until the NCAA's announcement on Tuesday, March 15 when NCAA Championship selections are posted.
 
Competing teams in today's NCAA Northeast Regional included fencers from Boston College, Brandeis, Brown, City College of New York, Columbia-Barnard, Cornell, Harvard, Hunter, LIU, MIT, NYU, Sacred Heart, St. John's, Tufts, Vassar, Wellesley, and Yeshiva.
 
The Northeast Regional is one of four NCAA fencing regionals as the others include: Mid-Atlantic/South (Princeton, N.J.), Midwest (Ohio State), and West (Incarnate Word). More information on the system is available at this link.
 
COLUMBIA'S NCAA NORTHEAST REGIONAL RESULTS
Sunday, March 13, 2022 | Walker Field House | Vassar College | Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
 
Women's Sabre
2. Vera Kong, Silver Medal (19-4 overall) 6-0, 5-1, 8-3 in final round
3. Nora Burke, Bronze Medal (15-8 overall) 4-2, 4-2, 7-4 in final round
6. Chloe Gouhin (13-10 overall) 4-2, 3-3, 6-5 in final round
16. Daniella Timofeyev (7-5 overall) 5-1, 2-4
18. Chiara Di Perna (5-7 overall) 4-2, 1-5
 
Women's Foil
2. Sylvie Binder, Silver Medal (19-4 overall) 5-1, 6-0, 8-3 in final round
3. Zander Rhodes, Bronze Medal (19-4 overall) 5-1, 6-0, 8-3 in final round
7. Delphine DeVore (18-5 overall) 6-0, 6-0, 6-5 in final round
 
Women's Epee
3. Ariana Mangano, Bronze Medal (17-6 overall) 5-1, 4-2, 8-3 in final round
5. Audrey Chu (15-8 overall) 5-1, 3-3, 7-4 in final round
7. Valentina Bos (13-10 overall) 4-2, 3-3, 6-5 in final round
13. Mina Yamanaka (8-4 overall) 5-1, 3-3
 
Men's Sabre
4. Christopher Walker (16-7 overall) 5-1, 4-2, 7-4 in final round
13. Josef Cohen (12-4 overall) 5-1, 3-3
15. Robert Vidovszky (6-6 overall) 4-2, 2-4
20. Jackson McBride (3-9 overall) 3-3, 0-6
 
Men's Foil
4. Andrew Zheng (13-10 overall) 3-3, 4-2, 6-5 in final round
5. Ashton Daniel (17-6 overall) 5-1, 6-0, 6-5 in final round
6. Sidarth Kumbla (15-8 overall) 5-1, 4-2, 6-5 in final round
9. James Bourtis (14-9 overall) 4-2, 5-1, 5-6 in final round
 
Men's Epee
1. Teddy Lombardo (20-3 overall) 5-1, 5-1, 10-1 in final round
2. Justin Haddad (16-6 overall) 6-0, 3-3, 7-3 in final round
10. Alan Temiryaev (12-11 overall) 4-2, 4-2, 4-7 in final round
21. Julian Maldonaldo (4-8 overall) 3-3, 1-5