M. Fencing falls short of Ivy title

The Penn men's fencing team could not have been any closer to the Ivy League championship. Its14-13 loss to Princeton Saturday in the last bout took the Quakers out of the title race, making Yale and Columbia co-champions. Penn was forced to go without one of its best fencers, sabre George Kalmar, who may have fractured his ankle during a pickup basketball game Friday night. Kalmar was unable to put any weight on the ankle Saturday morning. "At this point I think it's unreasonable to believe that George will return in time for IFAs [a championship meet involving Eastern schools]," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "Hopefully he'll be ready in time for the NCAAs." The sabre team still managed to pull together and beat the Tigers, 5-4. Freshman Rusty Boling and sophomore John Demas both won two of their three bouts to help the Quakers win the sabre portion of the meet. The foil team also had a strong performance, winning 6-3. Senior captain Nathan Anderson led Penn, winning all three of his bouts in his last Ivy League dual meet. But the Quakers epee team lost, 7-2. "That was where the meet went," Micahnik said. With the overall score knotted at 13, Penn junior Alex Edelman stepped to the stripe against the Tigers' Marco Acerra with one last opportunity to win the meet. "I asked him if he wanted to be last, and he said he did," Micahnik said. "He handled the pressure alright. He just didn't win the bout. "Anytime it's close it's disappointing. There's always a lot of second guessing in close ones." Penn was able to win against the North Carolina, 15-12. The epee team, which did poorly against Princeton, rebounded and won, 5-4, against the Tar Heels. The Quakers sabres lost 6-3 to North Carolina. "I don't know what happened to the sabres," Micahnik said. "I don't know why their sabres were underestimated." Foilists Adam Brown and Anderson both went 3-0 to lead the Quakers. Their individual performances may have also secured invitations to the NCAAs. "The two foils are going to be alright as long as they have decent performances at IFAs," Micahnik said.