UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State welcomed the men's fencing teams from Ohio State, Wagner and UNC Chapel to the White Building on Sunday for the second day of the 2023 Garret Open.
The entirety of the Penn State men's fencing team competed across all three weapons.
In men's foil, Aidan Johnson tied for third place with llya Ayupov of Ohio State after dropping a heartbreaking semifinal bout 15-14 against Buckeye Wangjie Li. Li went on to win first place. Five Nittany Lions made it to the top 16 with Arwen Borowiak narrowly missing the leaderboard and taking 5th place, Alessio Fukuda finishing in 8th, Yaroslav Muruhin in 10th, freshman Tit Nam Cheng in 11th and Donavyn Martinez in 12th. Konner Paik finished in 18th place with Spencer Burke right behind in 19th, Dusan Zeljkovic 22nd and Ignacio McGoff-Medero in 23rd place.
Mitchel Bekker tied for third in men's epee with Paul Veltrup of Ohio State. Tingwei Xu finished in 6th place with Kyle Yi in 8th, Vasil Ivakimov in 11th, Nicholas Glaz in 12th, Sultan Hassan in 13th, Peter Kambeseles in 17th and Zachary Suico in 20th place.
The men's saber squad only had 2 participants: Nico Pope and Jeffrey Basalyga. Pope finished in 9th place in his first event as a Nittany Lion and Basalyga came in 12th place.
Next weekend, several Nittany Lions will travel to Orlando, Fla. For the October North American Cup.
Penn State fans are encouraged to follow Penn State fencing via Twitter @pennstatefen, on Instagram @pennstatefen and on Penn State Fencing's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatefencing.
