Columbus, Ohio — The NCAA Fencing Championships concluded Sunday (March 27) with the Nittany Lions walking away with a second place finish. Penn State remained behind Notre Dame throughout the entire competition. The Fighting Irish had the advantage of having qualified one more fencer than Penn State, giving them an edge from the start.
Team captain Doris Willette became a four time All-American, in the women’s foil, after making it to the semi-finals this year where she was defeated by Eve Levin of Princeton, 15-12. Willette finished tied for third with Evgeniya Kirpicheva of St. John’s. The senior walked away with 20 victories. She has been a vital part of the success of the Nittany Lions throughout her time here, earning National titles in 2007 and 2009.
Teammate Olga Ostatnigrosh finished the women’s foil competition in 12th with 12 victories, she earned herself an honorable mention.
Junior Monika Aksamit left the tournament taking seventh in the women’s saber with 15 victories. Nicole Glon’s eight victories gave her a 17th place finish.
Defending National Champion Margherita Guzzi-Vincenti made it to the semi-finals before being eliminated by Noam Mills of Harvard, in a 15-8 bout. Guzzi-Vincenti shares a third place finish with Katarzyna Dabrowa of Ohio State. Alyssa Vongries took an eleventh place finish.
The men’s and women’s fencing teams are walking away from the 2011 NCAA Fencing Championships with five first team All-Americans, one second team All-American and two honorable mentions. The team tallied a total of 168 points, six behind the Fight Irish of Notre Dame. St.John’s rounded out the top three with 155 points.
Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was "very proud of both the men and women, they did a tremendously good job." It took several years to get the Penn State fencing program to where it is today and in the past three years they have proven to be a dominating program in the collegiate fencing world.