UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lion fencing schedule has been announced. Veteran head coach Wes Glon, in his 35th 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. 21-22 starting 11 a.m. each day.
The official schedule begins in October. Select Nittany Lions may participate at an Olympic Trials event that starts Oct. 18 and spans four days ending Oct. 21. The Olympic Trials will be held in Kansas City, Missouri.
November features four events. On November 2-3, the team will travel to Philadelphia, Pa. to take part in the Temple Open. The second event is a Junior/Cadet NAC that takes place on Nov. 8-11 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The team will return back to Philadelphia on Nov. 16thfor a dual meet against Princeton, Notre Dame, UNC, Cornell's women's team, Northwestern's women's team and Penn. The fourth and final event of the month is Nov. 23-24thwhen Penn State returns home to host the Garret Penn State Open.
On December 7-9th, Olympic Trials will be going on in Salt Lake City, UT. Simultaneously on Dec. 8th, the Nittany Lions will head to Fairfield, Conn., for a dual meet event against Harvard, NYU, Sacred Heart, NJIT (on the men's side) and Vassar.
To begin the New Year, select Nittany Lion fencers will participate in the NAC Division 1/Juniors in Charlotte, N.C. from Jan. 3-6. The following week on Jan. 12, Penn State will host 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. 18 at 10 a.m. Columbia, Harvard, Notre Dame, Ohio State and St. John's will be on the slate for that event. The final event in January is the W.S. World Cup from Jan. 24-26 and will be held in Salt Lake City, UT.
February opens with the team heading down to Durham, NC on Feb. 8-9 for a dual meet against UNC, Boston College, Air Force, John Hopkins' men's team, and Northwestern's women's team. The team will return back to Philadelphia to end their season on Feb. 23 that will feature duals against St. John's, Princeton, Brown, Stevens men's team, and Temple's women's team.
The 2020 Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals take place on March 7thin Durham, NC. The following weekend fencers travel to Long Beach, CA for the Men's and Women's Fencing Grand Prix. To conclude the 2019-20 season, the Nittany Lions travel to Detroit, Michigan for the 2020 NCAA Championships on Thursday through Sunday, March 19-22.
Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.
