Fencer Wins U.S. Championship

After all was said and done at the NCCA Fencing Championships yesterday at Brandeis, after over seven hours of hard, brutal, ungentlemanly competition, a Harvard man stood above the fray.

Junior Kwame van Leeuwen, the second-place finisher in the competition two years ago and the third-place finisher last year, took the gold in the foil competition, one of three individual events in fencing, by posting a remarkable 16-0 record through three rigorous rounds of combat.

"It feels great," van Leeuwen said after the contest. "I'm absolutely exhausted, but it feels great."

Going into the tournament, van Leeuwen was cautiously optimistic about his chances.

"I knew that I had the opportunity to pull it off, but I haven't done as well as I wanted in a couple of big meets this season," he said. "I knew that I had to fence as well as I've ever fenced."

And van Leeuwen did just that.

The first round of the tournament was a round robing seeding round in which each of the competitions 27 fencers fenced six matches. Van Leeuwen went 6-0 in the round and picked up the second seed behind Penn State's Andy Gerhardt, who beat van Leeuwen in the semi-finals of the Competition last year.

"The first round wasn't too bad," van Leeuwen said. "The competition wasn't as good and everybody was pretty fresh. It was only important in that it determined the seeding--everyone was looking for ward to the second round."

In the second round, the field began to narrow down. Again, van Leeuwen breezed through the competition, going 5-0 and becoming one to 16 the make it to the third round.

In the third round, which was double elimination, van Leeuwen was again per- fect, winning two quick matches to make it tothe final eight.

Then, with the field reduced to eight, thetournament bacame single elimination.

"Most of the first matches were against peoplethat I knew that I was pretty confident that Icould beat," van Leeuwen said. "When it got downto the final eight, though, and I was reallygetting tired, I didn't know what would happen."

Van Leeuwen would need three straight wins totake the championship.

In the first match, the effects of twelvematches seemed to finally take their toll, as hestruggled in a close 15-11 win.

In the second match, however, the Dutch-bornvan Leeuwen turned it up a notch. Going againstthe number-three seed, he coasted to a brilliant15-2 win.

"I hit my stride in that semi-final match," vanLeeuwen said. "I sort of dug down and found someenergy."

The stage was thus set for the foil finale.Going against Gerhardt, who had also been perfectfor the day, van Leeuwen got off to an early leadand never looked back. He won, 15-10.

"In those last two matches, I fenced betterthan I ever have in my life," he said. "It wasjsut an extremely rewarding experience--I'll neverforget it."

Van Leeuwen was a junior fencing champion priorto coming to Harvard, where he has been one of themost successful fencers in school history.

Still, he seemed to relish his newfound statusas a national champion as something special.

Asked what his plans are for the future, hegave the consummate answer of a champion.

"I'm going to Disneyworld," he said.CrimsonAmanda M. DawsonJunior KWAME VAN LEEUWEN (left) in actionearlier this season: Van Leeuwen won the nationalchampionship in the foil yesterday.

Then, with the field reduced to eight, thetournament bacame single elimination.

"Most of the first matches were against peoplethat I knew that I was pretty confident that Icould beat," van Leeuwen said. "When it got downto the final eight, though, and I was reallygetting tired, I didn't know what would happen."

Van Leeuwen would need three straight wins totake the championship.

In the first match, the effects of twelvematches seemed to finally take their toll, as hestruggled in a close 15-11 win.

In the second match, however, the Dutch-bornvan Leeuwen turned it up a notch. Going againstthe number-three seed, he coasted to a brilliant15-2 win.

"I hit my stride in that semi-final match," vanLeeuwen said. "I sort of dug down and found someenergy."

The stage was thus set for the foil finale.Going against Gerhardt, who had also been perfectfor the day, van Leeuwen got off to an early leadand never looked back. He won, 15-10.

"In those last two matches, I fenced betterthan I ever have in my life," he said. "It wasjsut an extremely rewarding experience--I'll neverforget it."

Van Leeuwen was a junior fencing champion priorto coming to Harvard, where he has been one of themost successful fencers in school history.

Still, he seemed to relish his newfound statusas a national champion as something special.

Asked what his plans are for the future, hegave the consummate answer of a champion.

"I'm going to Disneyworld," he said.CrimsonAmanda M. DawsonJunior KWAME VAN LEEUWEN (left) in actionearlier this season: Van Leeuwen won the nationalchampionship in the foil yesterday.