COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Harvard held off reigning three-time champion Notre Dame 169-161 to win the NCAA Fencing Championships at French Field House on Sunday.
Harvard’s men did not win any individual titles on the final day but did enough to hold off Notre Dame. Columbia was third with 149 points. Princeton (131) and Penn State (130) rounded out the top five in the 27-team field.
The Crimson women beat runner-up Columbia 87-81 in the first two days of the event to win the title.
Notre Dame’s men outpointed Harvard 88-82 but it wasn’t enough to offset a third-place finish by the Fighting Irish women (73).
Notre Dame was trying to become the first school to win four straight championships since Penn State won six in a row from 1995-2000. The Irish entered having won five of the last six titles.
Princeton’s Tristan Szapary defeated Notre Dame’s Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle in the men’s epee final in the first of three individual title matches.
Pennsylavania’s Bryce Louie defeated teammate Blake Broszus in the foil finale and the Notre Dame’s Luke Linder beat Penn State’s Neil Lilov to win the saber title.
It was the second fencing championship for Harvard, also winning in 2006.