March 10, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State fencing team will begin its road to the NCAA Championship this weekend, heading to Bethlehem, Pa., to compete in the Mid-Atlantic / South Regionals. Competition will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday at Moravian College.
The Nittany Lions will see action against Drew, Duke, Farleigh-Dickinson, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Princeton, Stevens, Temple and New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Competing for the men:
Foil -- Nobuo Bravo (San Francisco, Calif.), Howie Chan (Walnut, Calif.), Julian Fevry (St. Albans, N.Y.) and Nicolas Graziano (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
Epee -- Patrick August (Las Vegas, Nev.), Joshua Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.), Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) and Conor Shepard (Colleyville, Texas).
Sabre -- Andrew Mackiewicz (Westwood, Mass.), Karol Metryka (Linden, N.J.), Khalil Thompson (Teaneck, N.J.) and Kaito Streets (Redwood City, Calif.).
Competing for the women:
Foil -- Najiyyah Clark (Maplewood, N.J.), Kasey Iverson (Basking Ridge, N.J.) and Desree Ortega-Furgeson (Wyoming, Mich.).
Epee -- Jessie Radanovich (Tollhouse, Calif.), Jessica O'Neill-Lyublinsky (North Salem, N.Y.) and Anastasia Kalonji (Rennes, France).
Sabre -- Kathryn Chaprin (Setauket, N.Y.), DeAna Oliver (Montclair, N.J.), Erin McLoughlin (San Jose, Costa Rica) and Teodora Kakhiani (Tbilisi, Georgia).
Seven Nittany Lions enter the NCAA Regionals as a top-five seed in their respective weapons and genders. On foil, Bravo is currently in first place, with Ortega-Furgeson in fourth. Sabrists Streets, Mackiewicz and Charpin are seeded second, third and fifth, respectively. On epee, Radanovich enters as the first seed, with August in third.
The qualification process for the NCAA Championship will be based off of a combination of the fencers' season record and this Saturday's results. The fencers' season statistics will count towards 40 percent of the qualification, with the final 60 percent coming from the fencers' performance this weekend.
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.