Fencing teams fall just shy of their ultimate goal

Entering the Regional competition at the University of North Carolina last weekend, the Penn men's and women's fencing teams hoped to fill 10 slots for invitations to the NCAA championships later this month. The Quakers fell just one short. Despite the team atmosphere throughout the season, Penn coach Dave Micahnik stressed individuality going into the meet. Regionals was clearly the most important meet thus far this season for each individual fencer. After a disappointing season, the men's squad was tremendously successful at Regionals, with five members earning the trip to Notre Dame, Ind., and a chance to compete for the NCAA title. Freshman saberer Sanjiv Agashiwala was brilliant in competition, as was fellow saberer junior George Kalmar. Kalmar finished second overall in the competition, leading to his NCAA at-large bid. In men's foil, Penn supplied the third and fourth best fencers at the competition in Adam Brown and Nathan Anderson. Both will get a chance to fend for the NCAA title. Men's epee told a different story. As expected, sophomore Alex Edelman performed excellently, finishing third overall, and gaining an NCAA bid. Senior captain Ed Skyler, however had more than his share of problems. Skyler, in what would be his final fencing competition, failed to qualify for the NCAAs despite fencing well in Regionals. "I'm disappointed Ed Skyler didn't make it," Micahnik said. "But we did really well as an institution, placing nine of the 10 possible slots." In team competition, the men's team also performed relatively well. The saber squad finished second overall, and the epee team finished a close third. The men's foil team, on the other hand, withdrew from team competition due to injuries since the emphasis was on the individual tourney the day before. The foil, however, will not be losing any fencers after this season. · The women's team also had a bittersweet competition. Although the squad filled all four of its possible NCAA slots, Regionals provided both excitement and heartbreak. Freshman epee Anastasia Gunzburg recovered after disappointing losses at the Junior Olympics and the IFAs in recent weeks, finishing second overall in individual competition to qualify for her first NCAAs. The story was the same for freshman Olivia Leon, who qualified for NCAAs after an eighth-place finish. On the flip side, however, sophomore Liz Cornfied, determined to make the NCAAs, faltered and failed to qualify for the first round after the preliminary round robin. "I just wasn't fencing well. I didn't know what the problem was," Cornfield said. In women's foil, junior co-captain Megumi Sakae qualified, as expected, for the NCAAs. However, fellow co-captain Sarah Johns did not fence well at all and failed to make the tournament. All is not lost, however, as Johns will be returning next year. On a special note, senior Christina Kim, who has fenced well all year, qualified for NCAA competition in her final year, despite finishing in the middle of the foil pool at Regionals. The women's foil team didn't stop after the individual tournament, finishing second overall in the team competition and showing improvement since the regular season. The women's epee team, however, fenced horribly, finishing second-to-last due to a lackluster effort. "I felt alone in wanting to beat everybody," Cornfield said. "I was still irritated from yesterday's individual competition." Practices are now back in session. The men's and women's NCAA qualifiers are stepping up their drills in hopes of winning the big title. "As in any sport, the NCAAs are the most important competition of the year," said Edelman. "These two weeks, I'll be training my hardest."