UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The NCAA men’s and women’s fencing committee has announced that 10 Penn State fencers have been selected to participate in the 2017 National Collegiate Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships next week in Indianapolis.
The competition will be held at Indiana State Fairgrounds from March 23 until March 26. The men’s events will be held March 23-24 beginning at 9 a.m. on both days. The women will fence the final two days following the same schedule.
The Nittany Lions secured two fencers- the maximum allotted – in all but the men’s foil event.
Senior Teodora Kakhiani, juniors Karen Chang, Andrew Mackiewicz and sophomore Karol Metryka will be participating in the sabre events. Captain Mackiewicz is a back-to-back NCAA men’s sabre national champion in 2015 and 2016 and is looking to reclaim the title for the Nittany Lions this year.
On epee seniors Jessica O’Neil-Lyublinsky, Jessie Radanovich, sophomore Anton Piskovatskov and freshman Clinton Rodell will represent Penn State.
Senior Desree Ortega-Furgeson and freshman Jade Rowland will fence in the women’s foil event.
The Nittany Lions will compete in a round-robin tournament consisting of five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top-four finishers in each event will advance to the 15-touch bout semifinal round. The winners of the semifinal round will fence to determine first and second places, and the non-advancing fencers will tie for third place. Penn State will also be competing for a first-place finish in the team event. Teams will be awarded one point-per victory for each fencer in the championship. The team with the most points at the end of the tournament will be crowned the 2017 NCAA Collegiate Fencing Champions.