No foiling Morehouse's bid to make fencing team

Sometimes prior to competition he wears his old college warmup top; other times he wears a pair of socks with the Brandeis insignia.

Either way, US Fencing team member Tim Morehouse isn't shy about letting people know he's a Brandeis University graduate -- class of 2000 -- and proud of it.

And Brandeis men's fencing coach Bill Shipman, in particular, is proud of Morehouse, a saber specialist who in April clinched a spot on the US team that will compete at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, thus becoming the first Brandeis student-athlete to represent the US in the Olympics.

As the fourth-ranked saber fencer in the nation, Morehouse will be the team's first alternate, which means he won't be eligible for an individual medal but will participate in the team competition.

"Tim's the right combination of confidence and determination," said Shipman. "My greatest memory of him was his senior year when he went 21-2 in the NCAA Tournament round robin and constantly came from behind."

Morehouse, who is from Riverdale, N.Y., finished fourth in the tournament that year, a great achievement for a Division 3 athlete in the all-division competition.

Morehouse, who took the last year off to compete in World Cup and national tournaments, needed to clinch a No. 4 national ranking in saber to make the Olympic team and he did just that at the World Cup tournament in April in Budapest.

"I sent out a lot of e-mails that day," recalled Morehouse, a three-time University Athletic Association champion and three-time All-American who didn't even qualify for the NCAAs as a freshman.

Morehouse, ranked 57th in the world, was part of the US saber team that won its first gold medal at the World Cup in New York City June 10-13 and earned the No. 6 team seeding for the Olympics.

Such heady accomplishments were in sharp contrast to Morehouse's early months at Brandeis, when, he recalled, "I lost a ton of bouts. But at the end of my freshman year in the IFAs, I beat three NCAA champions . . ." Morehouse made the NCAA Tournament as a sophomore, finishing 10th in saber, and he got better each year with sixth- and fourth-place finishes.

Morehouse grew up in the Bronx and began fencing in his early teens. At Riverdale Country Day School, Morehouse was tutored by veteran coach Martin Schneider.

"Coach Schneider . . . got me started on the road to high-level fencing and has been a mentor; Coach Shipman at Brandeis showed me what was possible; and my coach at the Fencers Club in New York City, Yuri Gelman, deserves credit for getting me to the next [international] level," said Morehouse, who teaches at an intermediate school in Washington Heights.

"I first thought about the Olympics during my senior year of college and I'm still thinking about it because after this year, I'd like to shoot for the 2008 team as well," said Morehouse, whose team was 10th at the NCAAs -- and the top Division 3 finisher -- that year.

The saber -- a close relative of the cavalry sword -- is a thrusting and cutting weapon whose legal target is everything from the waist up. The side of the saber can also be used to record a touch, in addition to the point.

"It's the most physical, aggressive, and fast-paced competition of the three," said Morehouse. "You need agility and mobility because there are lots of touches."

Morehouse showed all of the above at the 2004 national championships in Atlanta. In a critical match against the Peter Westbrook Foundation -- which shares the same practice facility in Manhattan with the Fencers Club -- Morehouse scored 18 of 20 touches to give his team a 25-22 lead and the momentum was key as the Fencers Club won the national title, 45-42.

"He's come a long way," said Shipman. "He didn't have a national reputation or ranking in high school and he contracted [mononucleosis] his freshman year and didn't qualify for the NCAAs. But he worked hard to get in top condition and he gained confidence, and by his sophomore year, he could fence against the top collegians. Hopefully, the best fencers in the country will keep their eye on Brandeis now, thanks to Tim. Aside from his talents, he was very enthusiastic and optimistic and those are things you can't teach."