A buckeye normally isn't intimidating -- that is, of course, unless it's an Ohio State Buckeye.
The Penn men's fencing team ventures to the Penn State Invitational this weekend to take on Duke, North Carolina and Hunter College. But the main competition won't come from the Blue Devils or Tar Heels, but rather, those Bucs from Columbus.
"With Ohio State, there's been a lot of articles on how much more they're putting in this season -- that they're a team to look out for," Penn senior Jim Benson said.
Penn coach Dave Micahnik echoed Benson's sentiments.
"It's hard to know the balance on OSU," he said. "They're still the strongest team in the field."
Against Ohio State and the rest of the opponents, Penn hopes to get back into the flow of the season. The Penn State Invitational is the Red and Blue's first competition of the new year.
"This is the second semester, so all of us are going in and practicing Monday through Friday," Benson said. "It's a regular routine.
"This weekend we'll get the first bout jitters worked out."
The Quakers believe this competition has the perfect balance for an early meet. Not only can the veterans hone their skills, but the rookies can jump into the fire.
Freshman Chungxing Mah will get to experience the heat first hand.
"For me and [fellow freshman] Steve Gavalas, it's our first college competition," Mah commented. "We've been practicing really, really hard for a lot of hours.
"I'm really looking forward to meeting the new challenge. It's a great leap forward from high school."
The freshmen will get their chance only because the Penn State Invitational really isn't all it's cracked up to be.
"It's not really an invitational," Micahnik said. "It's more a cluster of individual events, a multi-meet."
And because of scheduling and geography -- the N.C. schools will face the Red and Blue because of the long trip -- Penn will have to wait until later this season to tangle with the host Nittany Lions.
Removing Penn State's elite program from the mix increases the Quakers' probability of winning the Invitational.
"We should sweep," Benson said. "We should beat everyone we fence."
But does everyone include those tenacious Ohio State Buckeyes?
"There's always one team a year that they say to look out for," Benson remarked. "That's Ohio State this year.
"I guess we'll get to find out if they're really as good as they are in print."
The Quakers season picks up after this weekend, as they face Yale on Feb. 2 and Harvard on Feb. 9.
