Fencing: Individuals open well at Penn State

The men’s and women’s fencing teams got off to a good start this weekend at the Penn State Garret Open, taking a total of three bronze medals and one gold.

The competition, in which scores were kept for individuals rather than teams, started out on Saturday with the women’s team competing against teams that ranged from Northwestern to North Carolina and included three other Ivies — Harvard, Penn and Yale. Seven Tigers made it to the round of eight in one of the three weapons: saber, epee and foil. Senior foilist Lucile Jarry upset top-seeded Dayana Sarkisova of Northwestern, a former All-American, by a score of 15-11, and junior epeeist Phoebe Caldwell eked out a 15-14 win.

Junior epeeist Hannah Safford placed fourth, winning two matches by only one point before losing to Margarita Guzzi-Vincenti of Penn State, who beat her 15-14.

Junior Eliza Stone fought well and placed third in the saber, the only Tiger woman to earn a medal. Diamond Wheeler, a sophomore from whom the team expects an impressive season, also did well in the saber, placing sixth.

On Sunday, it was the men’s turn. Five Princeton fencers made the top 10 in their weapons, and three earned medals. Junior epeeist Ed Kelley was the best-performing Tiger of the day, defeating Harvard’s Peregrine Badger 15-8 before winning the gold-medal match 15-11 over Vernon O’Garra of Penn State.

“The fact that we had so many top-eight finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides makes me feel confident that the effort we put in during preseason is paying off,” Kelley said. “I am excited to see how we perform as a team at the first team competition back at Penn State in two weeks.”

Sophomore Philip Dershwitz and senior captain Alexander Mills, a saberist and foilist respectively, took bronze. Both lost their semifinal matches 15-9 — with Dershwitz losing to the eventual champion, Penn State’s Alex Ochocki — but won their ensuing third-place bouts.

Other successful Tigers included freshman foilist Robert Daniluk, who made it to the third round of pools in his first collegiate meet. Daniluk ended up at 18th, narrowly missing the fourth round when he fell to a fencer from UNC in overtime. Fellow freshman Michael Wiest, a saberist, also came in 18th in his weapon.

The Tigers faced nine other schools including Harvard, which is sure to provide stiff competition for the Tigers in the Ivy League this year. Badger, a freshman epeeist who fences for Harvard — not Wisconsin, despite his last name — earned a bronze medal in his first collegiate meet. While three Crimson fencers placed in the top 10 in their weapon, only Badger found his way into the top three.

The women’s team hopes to win a third consecutive Ivy League championship, and the men’s team has a good shot at winning the league as well, as it did in the 2009-10 season. Strong showings from old and new faces and well-fought matches against tough opponents over the weekend prove that the fencing teams have much to look forward to this season.