CJS Press Box

On a blisteringly cold day at Princeton University in New Jersey, the Columbia Lions turned up the heat in a first-place win for the women against Harvard and a tense first-place tie for the men at the 2026 Ivy League Fencing Championships. 

Columbia conquered throughout the weekend, with the women securing their 15th Ivy League title and the men their 43rd. This marks the 13th time both genders have won together in an overall Lions team victory at the Ivies. 

The Ivy League Championships, which began in 1945, originally only featured football. Now, 34 sports are represented at the championships, which pit the “ancient eight” Ivy League schools against each other. Fencing was added in 1956, when Columbia won and kept winning in the years that followed. Now, although the Ivies don’t act as automatic qualifiers for the NCAA championships, they remain as a benchmark for the Lions to uphold their history of winning over 50 Ivy titles to date.

The Columbia Lions men’s fencing team competes against the Harvard Crimson at Princeton University, Feb. 8, 2026. © Amalia Wompa

The two-day event began on Saturday, Feb. 7 at Princeton University, where the women went undefeated at 4-0. Their most dramatic result of the day was a 24-3 win over Brown. Whenever a Lion went up to battle, teammates would crowd the sidelines wearing fuzzy costume lion ears. Whether there was a triumphant point or a stumble that proved defeat, chants of nicknames and words of encouragement filled the air. 

This success was largely carried by the women’s foilists with a score of 33-3, the discipline where only the tip of your blade has the power to score a point. The men met their match against Princeton, with a close call ending in Columbia losing 15-12. This loss spurred adrenaline in the Lions for their later match against Yale, where they coincidentally won 15-12. All in all, the men stayed steady with a score of 1-1, which put them in a confident but still uncertain position for Sunday. 

On Sunday, Feb. 8, Columbia sophomore Carolina Stutchbury carried the women’s momentum forward, winning 14-13 over Harvard by just one touch with only 15 seconds left after two tense overtime periods. 

The stadium was still as blades cut furiously through the air, only interrupted by one-touch hits, and victory screams that echoed into the halls. One by one, the Lions, specifically the seniors, broke out in tears representative of not just their sheer happiness, but of the built-up tension and anxiety that had finally been quelled. Back in 2025, Columbia had lost by just one point to Harvard, making this year’s performance a redemption for the team. 

Columbia senior Zander Rhodes reflected on last year’s close loss. “Just overcoming that hurdle and being able to do it differently this year was really special,” she said. “We knew it was going to be tough, but we knew it was going to be a lot of fun.”

Now, it was up to the men to carry through in order for the whole team to celebrate a victory. The men flew through both rounds, winning 19-8 over Penn before eventually closing out with a 17-10 win against Harvard.

This meant that both Columbia and Harvard shared the Ivy League men’s championship title in a surprising twist of fate that replicated their 2024 result — when the two rival teams also shared a win.

The Columbia Lions men’s fencing team competes against Yale at Princeton University, Feb. 8, 2026. © Amalia Wompa

“It was a long two days. A little demoralizing at the start because we lost our first match against Princeton but we pulled ourselves together and kept fighting,” said sophomore epee athlete Luka Loncar.

With the relief of the men’s shared title, the women, who had finished competing hours earlier, rushed the floor and embraced the men — the team now a huddle of lion ears, blue socks and tears. 

“Every single person was resilient and fighting the entire way. Our voices are gone — it was incredible, there are no words to describe it,” said Columbia sophomore epee athlete Matthew He during the team celebration.

In the end, Stutchbury who went undefeated on Saturday, was given both the 2026 women’s foil champion award and the All-Ivy first-team in Women’s Foil. Meanwhile, senior and fellow foil athlete Zander Rhodes earned second-team All-Ivy League honors as well as seniors Tamar Gordon and Tierna Oxenreider wielding sabre and epee respectively. Finally, Nicole Xuan was the only freshman on the women’s team to earn second-team All-Ivy League honors in epee.

For the men, junior Marsel Nagimov, who would pace the stage after every hit, finished runner-up in foil, while freshman Julien Lim placed second in epee. Wielding sabre, sophomores Zeyad Nofal and Will Morrill placed second and third respectively in their weapon to earn first-team All-Ivy League honors. Finally, senior epee athlete Skyler Liverant and junior foil athlete Samarth Kumbla were both named second-team.