W. Fencing faces rebuilding year

The Penn women's fencing team is full of new faces, and a number of old faces that will be in new positions. The Quakers lost some of their top fencers from last season to graduation and study-abroad programs. Three of the top four women who competed in the foil need to be replaced, and much of the epee team will be inexperienced as well. The team is in a rebuilding year -- something that is unfamiliar to Micahnik, who owns a .852 career winning percentage. "We have never really had to restructure the team before, but this year we have a lot of freshmen," Micahnik said. "A lot of the people who are returning from last year's team are going to have to take on new roles." That puts even more importance on this year's preseason. Penn's real season only runs from January 24 to February 22. But Micahnik believes that the short season can be used to the Quakers' advantage. "We have a young team this year, so these events are important so that we can see where we stand," Micahnik said. "We have a tough first event with St. John's. You never know what is going to happen on a team with a lot of freshmen, but I am somewhat optimistic. With the short season, one hot streak can carry us through the year." Penn has its second event of the preseason tomorrow at Penn State. The entire squad will be competing in the tournament, unlike the first preseason event at Temple, in which only two women competed for the Quakers. The preseason events are a way for the players to show the coaches what they can do on the strip and an opportunity for the coaches to judge the ability of the players. The preseason tournaments do not have an overall winner, so each person is competing for an individual medal. "We use these events as diagnostic tournaments," Micahnik said. "We'd like to see people do well, but more important is using this tournament as an opportunity to train and try new styles."