March 27, 2010
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- After the first day of the men's competition at the NCAA Fencing Championships, Penn State had four fencers with top-five finishes and put the team in second place in the overall team standings. The team ended with 150 victories, two wins ahead of Notre Dame and two wins behind St. John's.
In the men's saber, senior Daniel Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) finished tied for first place with 13 victories. He is tied with St. John's Daryl Homer.
Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was most impressed with Bak's performance at today's competition. He said, "Daniel Bak was almost perfect. He was confident, he was strong and he did very well."
Bak is in pursuit of his first National Title in his collegiate fencing career.
Sophomore Aleksander Ochocki (Clark, N.J.), who is the current reigning National Champion in the men's saber, ended in a tie for seventh place with nine victories.
In the men's foil, freshman David Willette (Lafayette, Calif.) came out strong with 13 victories and ended in first place. Yesterday, Willette's sister, Doris Willette (Lafayette, Calif.), lost the individual title in the foil for the first time in her fencing career.
Sophomore Miles Chamley-Watson also did well in the foil, coming in fourth place with 10 victories.
In the epee, senior captain and reigning National Champion Nick Chinman (Boulder, Colo.) came in second place with 10 victories. St. John's Marat Israelian leads the epee with 12 wins.
Senior Brian Heflich (East Setauket, N.Y.) ended in 18th place in the epee with five victories.
After the results were in, Coach Kaidanov said, "We are at the pinnacle of the fight. We're so close to each other, St. John's, us and Notre Dame, that tomorrow any of those three can win."
The competition will resume tomorrow morning with the semifinals beginning around 2 p.m. For live updates and live video streaming of the competition, follow along with Live Results of the NCAA 2010 National Fencing Championships.
For more information about the NCAA Fencing Championships, please visit the official 2010 NCAA Fencing Website. Final results will be posted tomorrow after the competition at gopsusports.com.