M. Fencing looks for another Ivy title

After winning their 15th Ivy League Championship last season, the Penn men's fencing team is eager to prove that too much is never enough by bringing home yet another championship this season.

Entering his 30th year at Penn, coach David Micahnik, who has had 27 consecutive winning seasons with the Quakers, believes that his team has one main focus.

"The goal of the program every year is to win the Ivy League," Micahnik said. "That is line number one on our list of goals for the year."

"We're always looking to win the Ivy League," junior foilist and captain Stephen Gavalas said.

Winning a 16th title, though, won't exactly be a walk in the park. Both Columbia and Princeton had strong recruiting classes that will only add to what are already excellent teams. The Lions were Ivy co-champions last season.

"Everybody is strong -- there are no pushovers this year," Micahnik said, "so anybody could come in first or last."

The Quakers will return all of their first team members with the exception of All-American foil Yale Cohen. However, despite the loss, the team expects to be able to put up a good fight in defense of their crown.

"We lost two guys last year but we have some outstanding freshmen who will be able to step up for us" Gavalas said.

One of these freshmen is foil Mike Galligan. Galligan recently won the National Junior Olympic Championship for men's foil in the under-21 age bracket. He enters Penn as one of the most highly rated freshmen in the country.

"We're counting on him to contribute," Micahnik said.

Like last season, the core of the team will be the foil squad.

"Foil is still the strongest part of the team," Micahnik said. "But we can't win a meet with only one weapon. This year we've got added depth in sabre and great experience in epee."

Ultimately, with so much talent in the league this year, it is practice that will make the difference.

"Fencing is one of those sports where you have to train just as much mentally as physically, if not more," Gavalas said. "That's why we put so much emphasis on practice -- it's the only way to get better."

"Fencing isn't a perfectible game," Micahnik said. "Yes, there's technique and conditioning, but there also is the issue of tactics for which you must learn to read the opponent -- the more practice you get, the better."

This weekend's Penn State Open, which is an individual preseason competition, should serve as a great practice session for the Quakers.

"We're going in there to try out some things and test our training," Micahnik said.

The meet will also allow the Quakers to measure themselves against the competition, as well as each other, while offering the freshmen a taste of collegiate competition.

"After the meet this weekend, we'll have a better idea of where we stand," Gavalas said.

With experienced leaders, talented newcomers, and a coach whose name is synonymous with the sport, the Quakers look to be well on their way to yet another successful season

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