There were 797 participants, men and women, in the meet in Oakland last weekend. The Junior Olympics proved to be a tougher test than expected for members of the Penn men's fencing team last weekend. Four Quakers were among the 797 men and women who competed in this massive event held last Friday through Monday in Oakland, Calif. Penn freshmen Michael Golia, Charles Hamann and David Cohen fenced in the sabre, epee and foil divisions respectively, while sophomore David Liu competed in both foil and sabre. All four were in the under-20 sections, with foil and sabre fencing Sunday and epee Monday. Two members of the women's team, freshman epee Kari Coley and sophomore foil Margo Katz, qualified to participate but did not attend. Cohen, a strong addition to this year's foil team with an 18-3 record, was the Quaker with probably the best chance of putting up a strong showing. Late in the day, however, he reinjured the index finger on his right hand and wound up in 10th place. After going 5-1 in the preliminary seeding pool and 5-1 in his first six bouts in the double-elimination competitive bracket, Cohen saw his day come to the end with a 15-8 pain-riddled loss. "I lost to the two guys who were in the final," Cohen said laughingly. Cohen will not be able to fence until further examination shows he is healthy, which is a blow for the Quakers as they prepare to face Columbia and Penn State this weekend. "I would've expected some better results across the board," coach Dave Micahnik said. "David [Cohen] should have been in the final." Liu, who was on the foil squad last year before switching to this year's relatively undermanned sabre squad, did not advance as far as Cohen. Liu was eliminated going into the round of 32 for sabre and ended in a range between 25th and 32nd place for foil. Golia, who went 6-0 in the Quakers' victories over Harvard and St. John's two weeks ago, finished in 9th to 12th place. Micahnik felt, though, that he could have placed in the top eight. Hamann did not do exceedingly well in the preliminary pool, finishing only four and two. "I took him aside and told him he had to learn to construct the bout," Micahnik said. After speaking with the coach, Hamann won his last two preliminary bouts. Results of his later bouts were not available. Although the four Quakers did not return with any medals or spaces on the National Team, the Junior Olympics did allow them some valuable competition during a rare off-week in the hectic Quaker schedule.
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