Nov. 8, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The final day of competition for the 43rd annual Garret Penn State Open saw two sabre placements and top-10 finishes on foil and epee for the Nittany Lions.
Sophomore Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.) took home the top spot in the sabre event, with captain Kaito Streets (Redwood City, Calif.) tying for third place. Mackiewicz and Streets were both previous NCAA Men's Sabre Champions and have continued to find success for the Nittany Lions in the sabre event.
Freshman Karol Metryka (Linden, N.J.) and senior Adam Lewicki (Oakland, N.J.) also placed in the top-10 during the sabre event, ending in sixth and 10th, respectively. Senior Gaspar Lesznik (Wyckoff, N.J.) and junior David Akrami (Piano, Texas) ended just behind, finishing in 11th and 12th on the day. Freshman Gavin Turner (Rehoboth, Mass.) ended in 15th place.
Sophomores Alejandro Andrade (Quito, Ecuador) and Eduardo Lara (Queretaro, Mexico) and freshman Marcel Dolegiewicz (Park Ridge, Ill.) did not advance through pool play in the sabre event.
The men's epee squad also enjoyed top-10 performances during the Garret Open. Freshmen Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) and Joshua Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.) took home sixth and seventh place, respectively. Junior Lars Swanson (Mendham, N.J.) finished in 15th place after falling to teammate Piskovatskov in direct elimination play.
Senior Farzaan Karimi (Medfield, Mass.) and juniors Oskar Tang (Gothenbur, Sweden), Patrick August (Las Vegas, N.V.) and Conor Shepard (Colleyville, Texas) did not advance past pool play in the epee event.
Senior foilist Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.) was the top performer for the men's foil team, finishing in fifth place and securing another top-10 finish for the Nittany Lions.
Freshman Julian Fevry (St. Albans, N.Y.) ended 12th on the night.
Senior Paul Valigorsky (DuBois, Pa.), juniors Howie Chan (Walnut, Calif.) and Nicolas Graziano (Brooklyn, N.Y.), sophomore Stephen Barnett (Clinton, Conn.), and freshman Richard Cho (Seoul, South Korea) did not advance past pool play in the foil competition.
The Penn State fencing team is back in action Nov. 13 -- Nov. 16. The men's and women's teams will travel to Kansas City, Mo. for the second North American Cup of the 2015-16 season. The competition will count towards the fencers' Olympic qualifications.
Penn State fans are encouraged to follow Penn State fencing via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pennstateFEN, on Penn State Fencing's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pennstatefencing and on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/pennstateFEN.