Fencing Katherine Harvard

For the second straight year, Sophomore Fencer Katherine Harvard will represent Caltech at the NCAA Championships.

At the NCAA Western Regionals hosted by Stanford University, Harvard was 11-1 in her bouts, finishing the year ranked 2nd in the Western Region.

As a unit, Harvard, Sophomore Emma Schmidgall and Sophomore Klimka Szwaykowska went 3-1 in Women's Epee, defeating teams from USAF, CSU Fullerton and Stanford. Their only loss came at the hands of UC San Diego.

Junior Vanessa Heckman of Women's Sabre qualified as a “Wild Card” alternate for Nationals after going 5-7 at Regionals.

Senior Haomiao Huang of Men's Sabre also went 5-7, finishing 9th in the region.

This marks the final meet for most of the team. As for Harvard, she will travel to Rice University in Houston Texas for the 2005 NCAA Championships, March 17-20.

Congratulations to the whole program on another outstanding season!

March 1st, 2005
Fencing: Women's Epee wins UC Irvine Invitational

The Caltech Women's Epee team continued to dominate this past weekend at the UC Irvine Invitational. Against top NCAA competition in Southern California, the team went a combined 28-8, defeating teams from UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA and USC. Caltech is the favorite to win the NCAA Western Regional next weekend.

The Men's Sabre team also fared well, going 3-1 in team competition. They are currently ranked third in the region.

Fencing competes next this weekend at the NCAA Western Region Invitational hosted by Stanford University.

February 14th, 2005
Harvard dominates for Fencing

The Caltech Fencing program faced two of the toughest opponents on its schedule this past weekend when it faced UC San Diego and Cal State Fullerton in a dual meet.

The Women's Epee team was the only group to score a win for Caltech, defeating Cal State Fullerton, 6-3. Sophomore Katherine Harvard dominated the opposition, going 6-0 for the meet while scoring 30 points while giving up only 11. Senior Haomiao Huang of Men's Sabre and Junior Vanessa Heckman of Women's Sabre each won three bouts apiece, keeping their squads competitive.

Katherine's brother, Freshman Alexei Harvard of Men's Epee, went 12-3 on points against UC San Diego, winning his first two bouts and finishing the third with a 2-1 lead before time expired.

The team fences next Saturday, February 26th at UC Irvine.

Fencing Women's Epee brought home the gold.

1/24/05
Fencing: Women's Epee wins gold at West Coast Invitational

The Caltech Fencing team competed at the 2005 West Coast Collegiate Invitational this past weekend. The team faced top NCAA and club teams from all over the country.

The Women's Epee team, with Katherine Harvard, Emma Schmidgall and Klimka Szwaykowska competed against seven different schools, finally making it to the gold medal round where they defeated the Univ. of Florida, 5-3. Men's Epee, Sabre and Foil and Women's Sabre also competed.

The team travels next to UC San Diego on February 5th.

Fencing Sophomore Katherine Harvard

11/15/04
Fencing: Women's Epee wins at UC San Diego Invitational

The Caltech Fencing team visited UC San Diego this past weekend, competing against two of the top NCAA Fencing programs on the west coast in host UCSD and CSU Fullerton. Caltech's Women's Epee team, an all-Sophomore unit lead by Katherine Harvard with Emma Schmidgall and Klimka Szwaykowska continued to dominate, defeating their opponents from both opposing schools by a combined score of 12-6. Rounding out Caltech's performance at the UCSD meet; the Women's Sabre team finished 7-11, the Men's Epee team finished 6-12, the Men's Sabre team finished 4-14, and the Men's Foil team finished 0-18. The team fences next at the West Coast Collegiate Team Invitational at UCLA in January.

11/8/04
Fencing hosts NCAA vs. Club Invitational; wins four events
The Caltech Fencing team hosted its annual NCAA vs. Club Invitational this past Saturday, with teams from UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, USC, Cal State Fullerton and UC San Diego attending.

Caltech was dominant in Women's Epee; Katherine Harvard teamed with Emma Schmidgall and Klimka Szwaykowska to go an incredible 35-1 in the 36 matches they competed in. Caltech also scored winning records in Men's and Women's Sabre and Men's Epee. All three events finished with 23-13 records.

The team's next meet comes this Saturday at UC San Diego.

2004-2005 Season Preview
The 2003-2004 Season was a banner year for Caltech's Fencing team, and the squad looks to improve even further this year. Head Coach Randy Paffenroth, now in his second season as coach, saw then-Freshman and now a Sophomore Katherine Harvard make it all the way to the NCAA Championships, becoming the first Caltech Women's Fencer in the team's history to reach that pinnacle. That achievement capped a tremendous season for the Fencing team; five Beavers, including Harvard, advanced to the 2004 Western Regional Championships hosted by the Air Force Academy. As a squad, women's epee took second in the regional, with several other weapons also having impressive seasons. With so many many young fencers forming the team's core, the future of the program is bright.