Live stats for the Garret Open can be found HERE
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's fencing team wrapped up the 47th annual Garret Open on Sunday in the White Building.
Junior saber fencer, Chase Pflueger (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and freshman epee fencer, Jonathan Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) took home hardware as they both finished in the top three of their respective weapons.
Heading into the saber direct elimination round, Chase Pflueger (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) was the 16thseed. Courtesy of two opponent withdrawals Pflueger found himself in the semi-final round. In an intense semi-final match against Ohio State's Hudson Santana, Pflueger pulled out the 15-13-win and made it in the championship round. Pflueger would fall in the finals to Columbia's Chris Walker, to claim second place. Teammates Ethan Mullennix (San Francisco, Calif.) and Michal Wisniowski (Clark, N.J.) finished 8th and 10threspectively.
Jonathan Piskovatskov (Houston, Texas) was dominant in epee pool play going 11-5 earning himself the third seed in the direct elimination round. Piskovatskov would make it to the semi-final but dropped a bout to Ohio State's Henry Lange, earning himself a tie for third. Not far behind, Ryan Griffiths (Fair Lawn, N.J.) finished sixth, and Elias Cole (Chappaqua, N.Y.) finished in 10th.
In foil, four Penn State fencers were ranked in the top six heading into direct elimination round. However, none of them could make it past the field of eight. Andrey Ostatnigrosh (Fresno, Calif.) would finish fifth, followed by Shane Iverson (Basking Ridge, N.J.), Sebastiano Bicego (Vicenza, Italy), and Maximillian Lewicki (Hillsborough, N.J.) who finished 7th, 8th, and 9th respectively.
After this weekend's action in State College, select Penn State fencers will participate in an Olympic Trials event in Salt Lake City, Utah which begins Friday, Dec. 6, and continues through Sunday, Dec. 8.
Also, on Sunday Dec. 8th, the men's and women's teams will head to Fairfield, Conn. for a dual meet series against NYU, Brown University, Vassar, NJIT, and host, Sacred Heart.
Fans can keep up with Penn State Fencing at GoPSUsports.com. Follow the team on Facebook at Penn State Fencing and on Twitter @pennstateFEN.
