When star junior Katelyn Sherry, the captain of the women's fencing team, broke her foot in December, no one could begin to imagine that she could be leading the Quakers in the home stretch of the season.
In the interim, head coach David Micahnik even named junior Holly Buechel unofficial captain, anticipating the need to compensate for Sherry's absence.
But yesterday at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association Championships at Hutchinson Gymnasium, both Buechel and Sherry shared the spotlight, guiding the women's team to an impressive third-place showing among the 12-team field.
In addition, the women -- who fenced one day after the men posted a second-place finish on Saturday -- secured a second-place finish for Penn in the six-weapon team competition, a system which combines the victories in the three weapons for both the men's and women's teams.
Micahnik was ecstatic about his team's overall performance.
"Generally, everyone did a great job," he said. "I am very proud to be second."
The Quakers put up a solid performance in the foil, finishing second. Freshman Abby Emerson and sophomore Zoya Abdikulova won nine bouts each, while junior Eve Overton notched ten victories in the team competition.
Furthermore, all three of them qualified for the individual competition, which followed the team event. Abdikulova went on to finish fourth overall.
Penn also found success in the sabre, as junior Cassandra Frey, freshman Cassandra Partyka, and Sherry combined for 25 wins in the team competition to earn third place. Again, all three advanced to the individual event.
Individually, Sherry advanced to the gold medal round and controversially lost the final bout on the very last touch because of a questionable ruling from the official. Many in attendance, including Micahnik and even the event organizers, felt that Sherry should have been awarded the point, and thus the win.
"I sincerely believe she won," Micahnik said. "But given what she's gone through all year long, it's amazing that she was even in that position to begin with."
The epee also performed well as freshman Ana Gutierrez-Colina led the way with eight wins, going to the individual competition.
The biggest story of the day in the epee came when Buechel captured the gold medal, handily defeating Cornell's Meghan Phair.
The IFA meet brought all of the Ivy League teams to Philadelphia, as well as Boston College, Brandeis, MIT, NYU and Vassar.
Harvard won the overall team competition, in addition to the six-weapon event.
Columbia edged out the Quakers by a single bout to take second place overall, but the Lions fell short of Penn by one bout in the six-weapon event.
At the conclusion of the meet, Sherry was awarded the Georges L. Cointe Award, which recognizes the fencer that demonstrates the best qualities of sportsmanship.
"I was floored [by the honor]," Sherry said. "It's really incredible since it's coming from teammates and coaches."
