UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Committee has announced that Penn State has qualified the maximum number of fencers, 12, for the 2019 National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships next weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.
The competition will be held at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center from March 21 until March 24 beginning at 10 a.m. everyday.
Sebastiano Bicego (Vicenza, Italy), Mohamed Hassan (Saint Louis, Mo.), Isabella Zuzulo (Newtown, Pa.) and Lodovica Bicego (Vicenza, Italy) will compete in the foil events.
In epee, Ryan Griffiths (Fair Lawn, N.J.), Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas), Barbara VanBenthuysen (Spring, Texas) and Anastasia Kalonji (Rennes, France) will represent Penn State.
Karol Metryka (Linden, N.J.), Marcel Dolegiewicz (Park Ridge, Ill.), Karen Chang (Hong Kong, China) and Zara Moss (Cranberry Township, Pa.) will participate in the saber events.
The full list of fencers who qualified for the NCAA championship can be found here: https://www.ncaa.com/news/fencing/2019-03-12/ncaa-mens-and-womens-fencing-committee-selects-championships-participants
The Nittany Lions will compete in a round-robin tournament consisting of five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top-four finishers in each event will advance to the 15-touch bout semifinal round. The winners of the semifinal round will fence to determine first and second places, and the non-advancing fencers will tie for third place. Penn State will also be competing for a first-place finish in the team event. Teams will be awarded one point-per victory for each fencer in the championship. The team with the most points at the end of the tournament will be crowned the 2019 NCAA Collegiate Fencing Champions.
Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on Facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.
