March 10, 2008
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams will make a trip to Ohio State, the site of the NCAA National Fencing Championships, this Thursday, March 13. Out of a possible 12 fencers, the Nittany Lions managed to qualify 11 men's and women's fencers. Overall, the men's qualified six for the championships and the women's qualified five.
Last weekend, at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals, the Nittany Lions had four first place finishers in the categories. Senior Franz Boghicev (Dormagen, Germany), took a first place in men's sabre competition. The three time All-America Boghicev will look to capture his first ever national championship in sabre competition. At his first three championships, he had three top eight finishes. Boghicev's best finish came at the 2005 NCAA National Championships with a fourth place tab in sabre competition. Boghicev so far has a 28-5 record in saber play and earned his 100th victory at the dual meets at Northwestern on February 3.
Also last weekend at regionals, sophomore Nick Chinman (Boulder, Colo.) took a first place finish in men's foil competition. An All-American in 2007, Chinman took a fifth place at nationals last year, looking to take the crown this year. Chinman is heading into this weekend's events with an astounding 34-4 record in foil competition.
On the women's side, junior Allison Glasser (Piedmont, Calif.) took a first place finish in women's foil competition. Other than her appearance at nationals in 2006, Glasser will make her first official trip to nationals this year. So far this season, Glasser has a combined record of 38-9 in foil competition. Also, sophomore Anastasia Ferdman (Maalot, Israel) finished first in women's epee competition. The All-American who finished first at regionals last year as well, will look to beat her fourth place finish at nationals from last year. Ferdman is 32-7 so far this year.
Others that will compete in this year's nationals will be junior James Moody (Denver, Colo.) and senior Arthur Urman (Maalot, Israel) in epee competition, sophomore Daniel Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) in saber competition, sophomore Keri Byerts (Webster, N.Y.) in epee competition, junior Anne Jackson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in foil competition, and sophomore Jessica-Kim Danh (Land-O'-Lakes, Fla.) in saber competition.
Penn State will be looking for an NCAA record 11th NCAA championship, and their second in a row by winning last year's championships. The championships will be taped, and highlights from the championship can be seen on Saturday May 3, on CBS.