At the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships last Saturday in Hutchinson Gym, sophomore Ron Berkowsky showed he is the best foilist in the Ivy League.
Berkowsky won the Foil A Division with a perfect 10 victories in 10 bouts, and led the Penn men's fencing team to a second-place finish in the team competition.
He was one of only two fencers in the meet to win all of his bouts.
Penn finished behind Harvard for the second year in a row. The Quakers (5-5, 2-3 Ivy) won 63 victories in 90 bouts but were well short of the Crimson's 71.
"Harvard has a really strong and competitive team," Berkowsky said. "I'm not exactly disappointed with our second-place finish. There's always next year."
Junior captain Mike Galligan and sophomore Corey Purcell also competed in foil. Galligan finished fourth in the B Division, while Purcell had eight victories in the C Division, good for second place.
Galligan twisted his ankle during a bout against Columbia and sat out the individual competition, but he's expected to be good to go in time for this weekend's NCAA Regionals.
"I'm very proud of the way my fencers bounced back and really showed how much heart they had," Penn coach Dave Micahnik said. "You can tell on a score sheet who won and lost, but you can't see who has the biggest heart."
In the sabre, Penn finished second in all three flights. Freshmen sabres Matt Kolasa, and Anders Eiremo and sophomore sabre Zachary Yeates all had eight victories.
Eiremo tied Brown's Dan Mahoney for most wins in Division B, but Mahoney was awarded first place based on touches differential.
The epee was the weakest event for the Quakers. Sophomore Alex Tozzo was the highest Penn finisher at fourth in the C Division.
Berkowsky continued his strong performance in the individual competition, winning the gold medal in foil.
Freshman epee Ben Weider lost in the finals of the epee 15-4.
"The way we fenced [Saturday] shows that a lot of our fencers have potential to qualify for the NCAA's," Berkowsky said.
The Quakers travel to Durham, N. C. this weekend to take part in the NCAA Regionals. Qualifiers will continue on to the NCAA Championships in Houston on March 16.
