Harvard Fencing Takes Bronze at National Championships

The Harvard fencing team (11-8) took home bronze at the NCAA fencing championships, marking the fourth consecutive year that the Crimson took a step on the podium.

The achievement also means a 100 percent podium rate for Head Coach Daria Schnieder, who last year became the youngest and first female coach to win the National Championship.

Harvard sent 10 fencers to the Championship with individual results ranging from 14th to second. Notably, sophomore Jessica Zi Jia Guo (women’s foil), freshman Andrew Chen (men’s foil), and sophomore Henry Lawson (men’s epee) all received the runner-up spot in their individual disciplines.

After the win last year, the pressure was on for the Crimson team to perform.

Senior captain Lauren Scruggs, who placed sixth at the event and nabbed an individual silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, spoke about coming into the competition as the defending champions.

“When you win, you’re in a very unique position where you want to try to win again, and everyone’s looking to take that away from you,” Scruggs said. “So there’s definitely a lot of performance nervousness.”

However, Scruggs was incredibly impressed with the team’s resilience.

“Our team is pretty young, and so a lot of them were not here when we won the NCAA championship,” she said. “So they were coming into a team where there’s a lot of expectations. Despite that, they had great performances individually.”

“One of our first-years, Andrew Chen, got second place at his first NCAA, which is pretty huge,” she added. “So I am really proud of our resilience.”

Sophomore captain Henry Lawson admitted that the competition was a lot stronger this year, because many people took gap years to prepare for the Olympics.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” he said.

But, the sophomore had faith in the Harvard team, and trusted in its abilities to fence.

“We have undeniable talent,” he said. “At the end of the day, that talent shines through.”

Lawson himself lost a tough championship battle to take the runner-up spot in the men’s epee individual.

“[Mohamed El-Sayed] is an extremely talented fencer and is extremely hot right now. He is number two in the world, and the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist. So I knew going into it that it was going to be a dog fight and that every point was going to matter,” Lawson said. “It’s easy to have regrets in a very close match like that; one point away from the national title. But I'm really proud of my fencing. Mo fenced great, and I have to respect that.”

After taking third place in the individual last year, and second place just a few days ago, Lawson sets his hopes high for next year.

“Obviously the goal is to win an individual title and a second team title next year,” Lawson said.

Scruggs, who won’t be returning to NCAAs next year, was more disappointed in her results. Scruggs — who also picked up a gold medal with Team USA last year — and fellow female foil fencer Guo — a two time Olympian in her own right — are used to taking home NCAA titles.

But, the senior was just excited to take it all in.

“We’ve both won the NCAA title, so given our situations, it was a disappointing showing individually,” Scruggs said. “That being said, it’s always fun to compete with Jessica. We don’t get a chance to compete together often because we’re usually competing against one another. So we used it as a moment to enjoy that.”

Scruggs has been on the team since the beginning of Schnieder’s tenure. The Olympic medalist praised the coaches program and her commitment to the team’s athletes.

“Daria’s one of the best coaches in the NCAA,” Scruggs said. “I think I owe a lot of my accomplishments to her.”

With an exciting young group, and a winning head coach to lead them, Harvard fencing will be a force to reckon with next season.

—Staff writer Thomas Harris can be reached at thomas.harris@thecrimson.com.