UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.– The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams welcomed Ohio State, Northwestern, Temple, UNC Chapel Hill and Wagner for the 2023 Garret Open. The women's teams competed Saturday and the men's teams will compete Sunday.
With the day of competition beginning at 8:30 a.m. and concluding at 7 p.m., the women's team had 17 total participants across all three weapons, and was able to pull away with two out of three first place finishes in each weapon.
Kateryna Chorniy faced Yeva Mazur of Ohio State and moved on to the gold medal match where she fenced against another Buckeye, Montserrat Viveros, to win first place in women's epee. The rest of the epee group followed with Jaclyn Khrol in finishing in 16th place, Axelle Wasiak in 18th, Claire Haas in 34th and Grace Baranosky in 37th.
In women's foil, Arianna Proietti faced Temple's Anna Novoseltseva in the semi finals and went on to fence Ohio State's Alina Lee in the championship. Proietti had a stellar start but struggled with injury towards the end of the bout and narrowly lost 15-14 to take second place. In their collegiate debuts, freshmen Eden De La Cruz finished in 12th place and Thea Fernandes in 18th. Ariel Ratsep followed in 20th and Mikaela Yhip in 21st.
Another first place finish came for Penn State's Ola Strzalkowski in women's sabre as Sky Miller of Northwestern was forced to withdraw from the championship bout due to injury. The rest of the sabre squad followed suit with Aurora Colter in 15th, Mia Novick in 25th and Amelia Baker in 28th.
Day 2 of the Garret Open will take place tomorrow with men's foil and epee beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the White Building.
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.