Fencing finishes 4th at IFAs

Penn women epees Kari Coley, Olivia Leon and Margo Katz each qualified for the IFA individual fencing championships. The Penn women's fencing team started its weekend with a Katz fight and ended it with a substantial victory. On Saturday, in Cambridge, Mass., sisters Jill and Margo Katz of Harvard and Penn, respectively, faced each other on the strip to start off the Intercollegiate Fencing Association tournament. Both the men and women's teams participated in the tournament hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The teams combined to score 122 points, good for fourth -- eight behind the winner Yale. Each fencer's performance in the team competition Saturday decided who would fence for individual honors. It was Sunday that brought pride to the Penn women's fencing team. In epee, the women had three fencers qualify for individual competition. Penn fought hard and managed to secure the top two spots of that event with freshman Kari Coley fighting to the gold and senior captain Olivia Leon close behind with the silver. The women's foil team sent two fencers to Sunday's competition. Penn's Margo Katz came in 8th -- her sister qualified for individuals but withdrew from the competition for personal reasons -- and junior Jagna Gromulska ranked 13th. "They are good fencers," said Penn coach David Micahnik. "And they got good at the right moment." Coley came back to win her weapon after a blow Saturday in a bout with a Rutgers epee brought her down to her knees. "Kari got hit really bad," Gromulska said. "She got hit in the hip and she hit the floor." The men met with less success Sunday. Freshmen Yaron Roth (foil) and Charles Hamann (epee) were the only Penn representatives. Both made it to the finals but only placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Junior Captain John Wright qualified for individual competition but withdrew because of family circumstances. "It is a very hard meet," assistant Penn coach Boris Tsypenyuk said. "Bout after bout after bout, it is like an assembly line." Overall, combining the scores of the five weapons that make up the men and women's teams, Penn's fourth place was only 8 points off the Elis. The Quakers also managed to edge out Columbia by 5 points. The women's team contributed a third-place showing to the overall team ranking with 65 points, just behind Yale (69) and St. John's (66). The men dropped out medal contention with a fourth-place showing (57 points), falling to Princeton, the Co-Ivy League Champion, St. John's and Yale. Still the Quakers men were able to outscore the Lions, who share Princeton's title as Ivy League Champion. "I was very impressed with some of the performances from this weekend," he remarked. "I never go in with any special goal. I said we would get a medal and we did, we got a few."