Penn men's and women's fencing coach Dave Micahnik describes himself as a perfectionist.
As a recent inductee into the U.S. Fencing Hall of Fame, Micahnik is always looking to improve his teams' performances. On Saturday and Sunday, both teams began their seasons at the Philadelphia Invitational Multi-Meet in Hutchinson Gymnasium. Overall, although his teams went a combined 7-1 on the weekend, Micahnik still thinks they have a lot of work to do.
The women's team finished 3-1 at the Multi-Meet with victories against North Carolina, 21-6, Fairleigh Dickinson, 25-2, and Sacred Heart, 22-5, and a close loss to Northwestern, 15-12.
The men's team finished 4-0 with victories against North Carolina, 18-9, Johns Hopkins, 19-8, Sacred Heart, 22-5, and New Jersey Institute of Technology, 27-0.
"The fencers were a little bit nervous," Micahnik said. "That cost us on the women's match with Northwestern."
The women performed very well given that Saturday was their first competitive meet of the year.
"I am confident that we could beat Northwestern in a few weeks," Micahnik said. "They had more competitive action than us."
Senior captain Ilana Sinkin also acknowledged the effects of the team's lack of competition so far.
"Northwestern has a lot better control over the time," she said. "We had first competition jitters, and we need to learn to not rush and slow down."
Freshmen Laura Paragano, Noelle Tay and Dominika Franciskowicz impressed in their debut and will most likely earn starting slots for the Quakers as the season progresses.
"Our veterans are holding their own," Micahnik said. "We also want to use our depth to give everyone experience in meets."
On the men's side, Micahnik and senior captain Ben Wieder were both very pleased with the team's performance, especially the sabre team.
"The men's sabre team beat a strong North Carolina team 5-4," Micahnik said. "Sophomore George Igoe has come on very strong for sabre."
"Jon Berkowsky and Sam Monk had great days." Wieder added. "We also put in a lot of non-starters against NJIT and still went undefeated."
Although the entire men's team dominated on Sunday, the Quakers know they will need to improve to have success in their next meet. On Jan. 25, Penn will travel to Princeton for the Princeton Multi-Meet, where it will face tougher competition that includes Duke, Penn State and Drew University.
"We need to work on bout strategy and time management," Wieder said. "Overall, though, we are in great shape right now."
Time may be all that the Quakers need to give them that extra boost.
"We need to develop more confidence," Micahnik said. "We need to have better game planning, and I think it will come around."
Micahnik remains optimistic about Penn's upcoming Ivy League season.
"Our chance to do well in the league is quite good," Micahnik said. "We will be contenders."
