Hagamen’s Sabre Yields Gold
Tim Hagamen became the third Harvard fencer in the past three years, and fourth Ivy Leaguer, to earn a gold medal at the NCAA Fencing Championships when he edged Patrick Ghattas of Notre Dame, 15-14, in the championship bout of men’s sabre.
Hagamen’s victory was one of the Ivy League’s high points at the Championships, held at Drew University in Madison, N.J. Ron Berkowsky of Penn nearly joined Hagamen atop the awards podium when, too, made the semifinals, in men’s foil, and lost the gold-medal bout by just one touch.
Columbia continued to lead the team competition, actually expanding its lead. The Lions, trying to give the Ivy League its second straight NCAA title, and win their first since 1993, had amassed 93 victories (points) at the close of the second day, four more than Penn State’s 89, with Notre Dame (85), Ohio State and St. John’s (both 82), Penn (64) and Harvard (62) still in contention. Columbia had led by just two points after the first day’s action.
Hagamen held the lead among individual fencers nearly the entire tournament. He ended the second-day series of head-to-head matches with 19 victories, the most of any men’s sabre fencer.
Ghattas and Ben Igoe of Rutgers each had 18 victories, and Mike Momtselidze of Ohio State had 17 wins, out of a possible. Hagamen was therefore seeded first in the individual competition, and was matched against the Ohio State fencer, seeded fourth. Ghattas and Igoe met in the other bout.
“It is definitely difficult to lead the whole way,” Hagamen admitted after the matches. “I didn’t think much about [leading] the first day, but I was under a lot of pressure the second day.”
His initial opponent, Momtselidze, was an old friend, a former teammate of Hagamen’s on U.S. Junior National teams. They fought what Hagamen termed “a great bout”, but the Harvard senior prevailed, 15-7. As the bout ended, Hagamen found himself thinking about the other semifinal bout between Ghattas and Igoe. “I went over there and watched them fence,” he said. “It’s hard to say what I gained.”
For more on Bill Steinman’s complete recap, please click here.
