ITHACA, N.Y. – Ariana Klinkov has been named head coach of women's fencing at Cornell University as announced today by, The Meakem*Smith Director of Athletics and Physical Education. Klinkov arrives in Ithaca following four seasons as the head fencing coach at Wellesley College and replaces head coach Daria Schneider, who took a similar position at Harvard University."I am humbled and honored to help lead Cornell fencing into its next chapter," Klinkov said. "This is an amazing opportunity to build on the foundation established by Daria, and I am excited to work with such a bright and talented group of student athletes."Klinkov possesses a wealth of experience in building programs, guiding her Wellesley program from an 11-10 record in 2015-16 to a 23-5 mark in 2018-19. Under her tutelage, the Blue won its first New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference championship in 2018-19 and qualified 10 student-athletes for the NCAA Division III Northeast Regionals. In four seasons, Klinkov led Wellesley to a 70-38 overall record with 33 NCAA Regional qualifiers.Prior to her time at Wellesley, Klinkov coached at Tufts University, where she directed the program for five seasons. Additionally, Klinkov served as a coach at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. While there she mentored 2008 NCAA men's sabre national champion, Jeff Spear, as well as 2007 NCAA women's sabre national champion and former Big Red head coach, Daria Schneider, at her club, Prise De Fer Fencing.Klinkov's coaching experience is magnified by her work as a member of the Fencing Officials Commission, where she was the first female referee to officiate a world championship gold medal match in sabre and the first female three-weapon referee in the world.As a competitor, Klinkov was a member of 1995 U.S. national champion women's sabre team, the 1998 U.S. national silver medal women's sabre team and the 2003 U.S. national silver medal women's sabre team.