• The IFA men's sabre competition came down to a two-team battle, with Penn posting a comfortable five-point margin over runner-up Columbia (25-20). Penn's veteran leaders Jon Berkowsky (9-0) and Andrew Bielen (9-1) combined to go 18-1, with Anders Eiremo rounding out the strong day for the Quarkers men's sabreists.
• Columbia's chances to contend were hampered when junior Jeff Spear (the '08 NCAA champ) managed only a 6-3 record in his flight-A bouts – but Spear went on to win the IFA individual men's sabre title (DE bouts do not count in the team standings). Spear and the Penn men both repeated their IFA titles from a year ago.
• In the men' sabre title bout, Berkowsky appeared on his way to victory (with an 11-7 lead), but Spear won eight of the final nine points for the 15-12 win. Berkowsky was the top seed coming out of the flight stage (9-0/+34 in flight-A), while Spear was the #3 seed despite his three losses (+7).
• The 15 direct-elimination bouts went mostly according to the seeds, with two exceptions. Bielen (#9) edged #8 Joe Isaacson of Brown, in the round-of-16, while Princeton's Thomas Abend (#5) had his own one-point win over #4 Andrew Fischl (Vassar) in the quarterfinals.
• Spear's DE wins leading up to the final included wins over #14 Adam Fields of Yale (15-6), Harvard's Valentin Staller (#6) in a 15-11 quarterfinal, and Princeton's Abend in the semifinals (15-13). Berkowsky's DE wins came against #16 Craig Limoli of Princeton (15-6), his Penn teammate Bielen (#9) in a 15-12 quarterfinal, and the #2 seed Peter Souders of Boston College (in a 15-7 semifinal).
IFA Women's Foil Round-of-16
(1) Jon Berkowsky (Penn) def. (16) Craig Limoli (PR) ... 15-6
(2) Peter Souders (BC) def. (15) Alex Rudnicki (COL) ... 15-12
(3) Jeff Spear (COL) def. (14) Adam Fields (Yale) ... 15-6
(4) Andrew Fischl (VAS) def. (13) John Stogin (PR) ... 15-10
(5) Thomas Abend (PR) def. (12) Malcolm Conley (BC) ... 15-5
(6) Valentin Staller (HARV) def. (11) Trevis Joyner (HARV) ... 15-8
(7) Adam Austin (BRAN) def. (10) Hugo Rodriguez (NYU) ... 15-14
(9) Andrew Bielen (Penn) def. (8) Joe Isaacson (Brown) ... 15-14
Quarterfinals
(1) Jon Berkowsky (Penn) def. (9) Andrew Bielen (Pennn) ... 15-12
(2) Peter Souders (BC) def. (7) Adam Austin (BRAN) ... 15-9
(3) Jeff Spear (COL) def. (6) Valentin Staller (HARV) ... 15-11
(5) Thomas Abend (PR) def. (4) Andrew Fischl (VAS) ... 15-14
Semifinals
(1) Jon Berkowsky (Penn) def. (2) Peter Souders (BC) ... 15-7
(3) Jeff Spear (COL) def. (5) Thomas Abend (PR) ... 15-13
Final
(3) Jeff Spear (COL) def. (1) Jon Berkowsky (Penn) ... 15-12
2009 IFA Men's Sabre Final Top-16 Data (field of 35)
1. Jeff Spear (Columbia) ... #3 DE seed ... 6-3 in flight-A (+7)
2. Andrew Bielen (Penn) ... #9 DE seed ... 9-1 in flight-B (+21)
3. Peter Souders (Boston College) ... #2 DE seed ... 6-2 in flight-A (+11)
3. Thomas Abend (Princeton) ... #5 DE seed ... 5-4 in flight-A (+5)
5. Jon Berkowsky (Penn) ... #1 DE seed ... 9-0 in flight-A (+34)
6. Andrew Fischl (Vassar) ... #4 DE seed ... 6-3 in flight-A (+5)
7. Valentin Staller (Harvard) ... #6 DE seed ... 5-4 in flight-A (-5)
8. Adam Austin (Brandeis) ... #7 DE seed ... 8-2 in flight-A (-3)
9. Joe Isaacson (Brown) ... #8 DE seed ... 2-7 in flight-A (-17)
10. Hugo Rodriguez (NYU) ... #10 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-B (+9)
11. Trevis Joyner (Columbia) ... #11 DE seed ... 7-3 in flight-B (+5)
12. Malcolm Conley (Boston College) ... #12 DE seed ... 6-4 in flight-B (+16)
13. John Stogin (Princeton) ... #13 DE seed ... 5-5 in flight-B (+5)
14. Adam Fields (Yale) ... #14 DE seed ... 8-1 in flight-C (+20)
15. Alex Rudnicki (Columbia) ... #15 DE seed ... 7-1 in flight-C (+21)
16. Craig Limoli (Princeton) ... #16 DE seed ... 5-4 in flight-C (-1)
2009 IFA Men's Sabre Final Team Standings
1. Pennsylvania 25-3 (+73) ... Jon Berkowsky 9-0, Andrew Bielen 9-1, Anders Eiremo 7-2
2. Columbia 20-8 (+32) ... Jeff Spear 6-3, Trevis Joyner 7-3, Alex Rudnicki 7-1, William Fink 0-1
3. Boston College 15-13 (+20) ... Peter Souders 6-3, Malcolm Conley 6-4, Ian Griswold 3-6
4. Princeton 15-13 (+9) ... Thomas Abend 5-4, John Stogin 5-5, Craig Limoli 5-4
5. Harvard 13-15 (-18) ... Valentin Staller 5-4, Scott DiGiulio 5-5, Craig Gorin 2-3, Ivan Bochkov 1-3
6. Yale 12-7 (+16) ... Sebastian Cano-Besquet 4-6, Adam Fields 8-1,
7. Brandeis 12-16 (-14) ... Adam Austin 4-5, Naveen George 2-5, Alex Brand 1-1
8. NYU 11-17 (-6) ... Sam Roukas 1-8, Jared Hammond 2-4, Ben Radding 1-2
9. Vassar 10-18 (-34) ... Andrew Fischl 6-3, John Rothman 3-7, Chris Benson 1-8
10. MIT 8-20 (-45) ... Igor Kopylov 1-8, Rangarajan Nadadur 2-8, Max Brand 5-4
11. Brown 4-15 (-33) ... Joe Isaacson 2-7, Adam Zethraeus 2-8