Foil team to compete for 'Little Iron Man'

This weekend, another men's fencing trophy may return to Penn. The Quakers foil team is among the favorites to bring home a victory at the Intercoastal Fencing Association Championships. If Penn wins, it will earn the Little Iron Man -- the IFA's foil-team trophy, the oldest intercollegiate trophy in the nation. The Quakers, who went 11-4 this year, hope to place in the top three as a team this weekend. "We should be in the money," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "If things go as well as possible." The Quakers' strongest competition will likely come from Yale and St. John's, both of whom won close victories over Penn. But the Quakes will be without their premier fencer, sabre George Kalmar. Kalmar injured his right ankle last Friday during a pickup basketball game and was diagnosed with a extreme fracture. "Kalmar would make a huge difference," Micahnik said. "We have a definite handicap without him." Freshman Rusty Boling, who performed well against Princeton and North Carolina last weekend, will start in place of Kalmar. Due to a scheduling conflict with another regional meet, only nine men's teams will compete at the IFAs, which are being held at MIT this year. The IFAs also have a different format from most regular-season meets. Fencers first compete as a team on Saturday and must perform well enough to be invited to compete on Sunday, in the individual bouts. The foil team, which has lost only one meet all year, is led by Nathan Anderson and Adam Brown. Penn's lone loss in the foil section came against Penn State, which is not competing at the IFAs. During the IFAs, each weapons team will have three fencers, and the teams will be divided into A, B and C pools. Anderson and Brown have very similar records, and Micahnik is undecided as to who will compete in the A pool for the Quakers. "Both have had strong seasons," Micahnik said. "And it just depends who will do better competing against other fencers in the A pool." Micahnik feels all of his fencers have a legitimate shot of moving on to the second day of competition. "If everyone fences up to potential, they have a chance to qualify for Sunday," he said.