In the midst of all this mess with Irene, sports is here to take your mind off all the wind and rain with a good ol’ catch-you-up. Since school officially let out for the summer, there has been plenty of news coming out of our athletic department. Follow the jump to catch up on all that’s happened in this summer wrap-up.

In football we’ve seen an introduction of the freshman class, an announcement from the Ivy league that full-contact practices will be reduced this season in order to limit head injuries and just recently Spectrum analyzed the preseason poll.

Basketball was mostly quiet this summer, but also introduced its new recruits, having added size with many of the new players.

Soccer made headlines in late May with news that Kofi Agyapong had transfered to Columbia from perennial powerhouse Wake Forest.

Fencing made summer headlines on two fronts. First, rising sophomore Nzingha Prescod took eighth place place in the Seoul Grand Prix, making her the first American to finish in the top eight since 2004. Next, Fencing, along with Wrestling and Women’s rowing all announced that they had found new head coaches for the upcoming year.

Finally, in Golf rising sophomore Michelle Piyapattra made a great run at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships. Piypattra had a big summer with the tournament, from qualifying as one of 156 to falling just short of advancing in the round of 32.