W. Fencing places fifth at IFAs in spite of injuries

Injured, sick and bruised, the Penn women's fencing team schlepped nine hours by bus to MIT for the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships last weekend. The Quakers were treated to a meal of pizza and pasta by Paul Freedberg -- a Penn alum and former Olympic fencer. However, the Italian cuisine could not remedy the infirmed fencers. The Red and Blue finished in fifth place in the 10-team field. Ivy League rivals Harvard and Yale dominated the team competition Saturday, each finishing with 56 points. NYU, Columbia and Penn placed in the second tier, with 43, 41 and 40 points, respectively. St.John's, MIT, Brandeis, Brown and Cornell all finished far out of contention. "If you take our team with all our personnel, we could have been a couple spots up," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "I don' know if we could have won, but we should have been a couple spots up." But the walking wounded put forth a respectable effort for the Quakers. Freshman epee Meredith Galto's gutsy performance was one bright spot for the Quakers. Galto was confined to crutches all weekend, but unable to walk, she still compiled a 6-3 record, fencing stationary. "Meredith fenced by swinging her arms at the opponent," Penn junior Liz Cornfield said. "Six and three is not bad," Micahnik said. "I give her an awful lot of respect for what she produced." Sophomore epee Olivia Leon added three victories to the Quakers total, despite a strep throat. "It was pretty courageous," Micahnik said. "Olivia, with her strep throat, gave it the best she can." Penn freshman Tammy Hancock did not have medical clearance for her bruised knee to make the trip. But sophomore Emmy Cho moved up to Pool B epee and defeated four opponents. Cornfield stepped into the starting lineup, replacing the injured Hancock. She disposed of seven of her nine opponents, leading the Quakers in wins. And each bout she lost was by a 5-4 score. "I was pleased with my performance," Cornfield said. "I was really relaxed for some reason going into the meet, which helped lead to my success." Sophomore Anastasia Gunzburg also had a strong meet -- demolishing A-bracket epees from Cornell, Harvard, Brown, Brandeis, MIT and NYU. Penn seniors Megumi Sakae and Sarah Johns each concluded their collegiate careers with 4-5 performances in foil pool A and B respectively. Sophomore Cindy Kwan added six victories in foil. "They had some really hard people," Micahnik said. "And [Sakae] came out one touch shy of advancing to the individuals, literally one touch." On Sunday, the top six fencers in bracket A, three in bracket B, two in bracket C and one in bracket D competed in the IFA individual championships. In the individual women's foil championships, Yale's Alison Calabia finished first, going a perfect 7-0. Brandeis's Kristin Follmer and NYU's Faina Vitebskaya tied for second. Columbia's Jennifer Curtis won the individual women's epee championships with a 6-1 record. Angie Rodel of Yale, and Nicole Dygert of St. Johns placed second and third, respectively. By defeating six fencers in Pool A, Gunzburg became the only Quaker to advance to the individual tournament on Sunday. Facing the toughest epee competition of the East Coast, Gunzburg added two more victories en route to earning a No. 6 Eastern ranking. Although there is no championship banner for the Quakers this season, the Red and Blue's gutsy performance shows promise for next season. "During the season, we beat Columbia, but lost to a weaker Harvard and Yale because all our energy was not into it," Cornfield said. "Next year, if we really harness our energies into winning each meet, we can become Ivy League champs. Beating Columbia during the season showed us how good we really are."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.