SEASON PREVIEW: En garde: W. Fencers ready for new season

The squad return 11 fencers for 1997-98. The Penn women's fencing team is looking forward to once again dueling against its Ivy League opponents. Coming off a decent 1996 season which saw the Quakers go 7-6 overall and 2-3 in Ivy League play, the team is hoping to considerably better their marks this year. Returning 11 fencers, including seven starters, from last year's squad is sure to help. Having graduated only one member from last year's team, Penn looks forward to having a solid squad for the season. The team will feature two seniors, captain Olivia Leon and Ying Emmy Cho, an epee, and another senior, Cynthia Kwan, on foil. "Our epee team seems to be our strength right now," said Quakers coach Dave Micahnik, who has headed both men's and women's fencing for over 20 years at Penn. He adds, though, "That at any given event, either of our two squads could come up big." The Quakers' sole representative at the 1996 NCAA tournament, junior Meredith Galto, returns to lead the team in this event. Challenging Galto, Leon and Cho for epee positions will be freshman sensation Kari Coley. The latter competed last year in the Division I national championships, and has competed in Junior World Cup events over the past few years. Last year's best foil fencer, Margo Katz, returns for her sophomore year. Joining Katz and Kwan in the foil lineup is junior Agnieszka Gromulska. As opposed to men's fencing, which features three weapons, women's competition includes just the foil and epee -- not the sabre. This places more emphasis on team depth in each event. The object in foil competition is to score within the torso of the opponent's body; in epee, players can score with a hit anywhere on the body. The epee features a heavier, stiffer blade and a larger hand guard than the foil. The women's fencing program has been one of Penn's most successful during recent years, winning a national championship in 1986 and placing five fencers on All-Ivy first teams since 1994. This year, although Penn has 11 returning fencers, it also features 10 underclassmen. "Right now we have a good team," said Micahnik, adding,"We have good depth across the board." The coach also stated that his goal is a winning season. Although the season has yet to officially begin, the Red and Blue are hard at work improving and preparing for its first meet. Stating the team "is currently around the middle of the [Ivy League] pack," Micahnik nonetheless believes "our team has shown significant improvement so far this year." He expects several of the underclassman to challenge for the top positions soon. The Quakers open their team season with a quad-meet at Princeton on December 7. This meet includes three of the top teams in the Eastern region in Rutgers, North Carolina and Princeton. "This should definitely be a tough opening meet," Micahnik said. "That will test our progress so far this year."