Fencing teams face tough competion

Men try to use confidence tomorrow There's a funny thing about sports: Winning inspires confidence. The Penn men's fencing team (11-3, 2-2 Ivy League) is on a royal tear, having won six consecutive meets -- of course, each of the six occurred within a 24-hour span. Either way, the Quakers exude confidence as they head into tomorrow's competition (10 a.m., Weightman Gym) against several of the best fencing teams in the nation. The Quakers will host Notre Dame, Columbia, Penn State and William & Mary. While the Irish, Lions and Nittany Lions earn respect as the top fencers in the country, the Tribe might find itself out of its element. "I think many people regard the four of us, with the exception of William & Mary, as four of the top six teams in the country," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "This is possibly a Final Four of fencing." The Lions are the two-time defending Ivy League and national champions. More importantly, a key tradition lies in the outcome of the Penn-Columbia meet. The winner presents the loser with a trophy -- actually it is a wooden item carved in the shape of a middle finger. "Penn has had the trophy for a long time," sophomore sabre George Kalmar said. "It's time we gave Columbia the finger." After winning their last two Ivy meets, the Quakers can now accomplish two goals. Penn can not only establish itself as a fencing power at this season's NCAA Tournament, but also can improve its league record above the .500 mark for the first time this season. "This is the year we'll beat Columbia," Micahnik said. "They're hurting after the graduation of some key fencers, and we have as solid a team as we ever have. We should be able to beat them." Penn State, on the other hand, should prove a bit more difficult, although Penn maintains that equality in the recruitment programs would lead to greater equity on the mats. "Penn State spends much more money on recruiting than we do," senior captain Evan Glanz said. "We would be national champions, too, if we sent representatives to Europe to find the greatest fencers." Penn State does maintain an awe-inspiring arsenal of talented fencers which the Quakers must attempt to neutralize. "I'll be honest and say that I'm a bit scared," freshman phenom Alex Edelman said. "We'll have a fight on our hands this weekend." Add Notre Dame, the class of the midwest, to the fray, and you come up with an amazing compilation of talent in Penn's gym this weekend. "Notre Dame has traditionally been the best in the midwest," Micahnik said. "We'll have to have everybody hitting to beat all of these guys." Win or lose, Penn is likely to have another shot at these guys somewhere down the road, like in the NCAAs. But the Quakers would like to continue to build confidence by winning this weekend.