UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lion fencing schedule has been announced. Veteran head coach Wes Glon, in his 34th season at Penn State, will lead the Nittany Lions into a full schedule of NCAA events as well as NAC competition and Olympic qualifiers. Penn State hosts three events this season.
The preseason schedule begins this weekend as Penn State hosts the Nittany Lion Cup. The Nittany Lion Cup is an annual fencing open that is hosted within Penn State's White Building. This event is open to any fencers that are a member of the United States Fencing Association (USFA) and will take place Sep. 22-23 starting 10 a.m. each day.
The official schedule begins in October. Select Nittany Lions may participate at an Olympic Trials event that starts Oct. 12 and spans four days ending Oct. 15. The Nittany Lion season officially opens in full at the Temple Open on October 27-28. The next weekend, Penn State returns home to host the Garret Penn State Open on Nov. 3-4.
November features two events. The first is a Junior/Cadet NAC that takes place on Nov. 9-12 in Kansas City and the second is the season's first dual meet in Columbus, Ohio on Nov.17-18. December opens with the Nittany Lions heading to Fairfield, Conn., for a dual meet event against Princeton, Harvard, NYU, Sacred Heart, NJIT (on the men's side) and Vassar. Qualifying Lions will take part in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Portland on Dec. 14-17.
NAC Division 1/Juniors will be in Charlotte, N.C., while the Junior World Cup is simultaneously happening in Segovia, Spain, on Jan. 4-7. The new year kicks off in force on Jan. 13 when Penn State hosts UPenn, Temple's women's team, North Carolina, Columbia, Haverford, Duke and Yale starting at 8:30 a.m. The following week they are off to Queens, N.Y. for the fourth dual meet series of the season on Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. Columbia, Harvard, Notre Dame, Ohio State and St. John's will be on the slate for that event.
February opens with a Junior Olympics event on Feb. 15-17. The month also features an important dual meet date as the Lions continue to prepare for the post-season. Temple will be the site of duals on Feb. 23 that feature St.John's, Princeton, Penn, Brown, Stevens men's team, and Temple's women's team.
The 2018 Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals take place on March 9. The Nittany Lions travel to Cleveland, Ohio for the 2019 NCAA Championships on Thursday through Sunday, March 21-24.
Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.