UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State fencing teams competed at the 2019 NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional today in Easton, Pa. as part of the qualifying process for the 2019 NCAA Championships. Head coach Wes Glon's teams combined for 18 top-ten finishes while crowning four champions on the day.
Isabella Zuzulo (Newtown, Pa.) started the day off for the Nittany Lions by claiming the team's first championship of the day with teammates Lodovica Bicego (Vicenza, Italy) and Jade Rowland (Princeton Junction, N.J.) finishing fourth and fifth, respectively. Sebastiano Bicego (Vicenza, Italy) led the men's foil team with his third-place finish with junior teammate Mohamed Hassan (Saint Louis, Mo.) finishing right behind him in fourth.
Penn State swept the epee with Barbara VanBenthuysen (Spring, Texas) and Ryan Griffiths (Fair Lawn, N.J.) being crowned as champions. The men's epee team claimed the top three spots in the event with Elias Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.) and Anton Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) claiming second and third, respectively. Anastasia Kalonji (Rennes, France) followed VanBenthuysen with her second-place finish.
The Nittany Lions wrapped up the day with men's and women's saber. Karol Metryka (Linden, N.J.) claimed the fourth and final championship for Penn State with Inti Farfan-Bayerl (Morrison, Colo.) and Marcel Dolegiewicz (Park Ridge, Ill.) placing fifth and seventh, respectively. Sophomore Zara Moss (Cranberry Township, Pa.) led the women's saber team with her second-place finish with Karen Chang (Hong Kong, China) finishing 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 will next be in action when select Penn State fencers travel to Long Beach, Calif. for the Men's and Women's Grand Prix that starts Friday, March 15, and ends on Sunday, March 17. Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on Facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.