NCAA Fencing Championships | 'Par' performance for Penn

Penn's Stephanie Wheeler trailed Columbia's Tess Finkel, 4-2, with thirty seconds left in a first-to-five epee bout at the NCAA Championships.

In courageous fashion, the sophomore quickly recorded two touches, sending the bout to overtime, when she ended up winning 5-4.

"That win gave me a lot of momentum going into the last round of bouts," Wheeler said.

Wheeler ended with an impressive 14-9 record, good enough for ninth place in the nation and earning her the distinction of All-American honorable mention.

"Stephanie had a great tournament," coach Dave Micahnik said. "She recorded a lot of very impressive victories."

Combined with the men, the Penn fencing team finished seventh at the NCAAs, which took place Thursday through yesterday at State College, Pa. The host, Penn State, won the tournament.

"We ended up finishing in the same place as last year," Micahnik said. "The field, though, was stronger this year."

Despite the similar result in 2008, the team recorded 103 victories this weekend, compared to just 92 in last year's tournament.

At men's sabre, the winner of the Mid-Atlantic regional, Jonathan Berkowsky, finished in sixth place at nationals with a record of 17-6. He garnered second team All-American honors.

Senior captain Ben Wieder went 13-10 over the course of the competition and finished in 12th place. He was named an All-American honorable mention.

The final All-American for Penn was Dominika Franciskowicz. The freshman sabre finished in 12th place, going 12-11 for the day. She was also an honorable mention.

Men's freshmen foils Vidur Kapur and Zane Grodman each recorded nine victories this weekend and finished in 15th and 17th place, respectively. Women's freshman foil Laura Paragano finished 15th as well.

"We had a number of freshmen participating," Micahnik said. "There's always awe to get over when arriving at the NCAAs, but then they got into the action and performed quite well."

Junior sabre Andrew Bielen recorded nine victories during the tournament and finished 14th. Sophomore sabre Danielle Kamis matched Bielen's 14th-place finish and went 10-13.

Although seventh in the nation is quite an accomplishment, Micahnik thought that his team's performance was only average.

"We certainly did not underperform this weekend" Micahnik said. "It was a par performance for Penn."

With the season over, Micahnik can't wait to relax before voluntary competitions begin.

"It's time for some dead-buggin'," Micahnik said. "That's when you lie on your back and put your feet up, like a dead bug."

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