UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams are traveling to New York for the Brian Palestis Memorial Invitational at Wagner College in Staten Island, New York on Sunday, February 1. Competition for the Nittany Lions begins at
IN THE RANKINGS
The men’s squad stays put at No. 7 in the NCAA men’s fencing rankings.
LINEUP & THE COMPETITION
Representing the men’s foil team is Alessio Fukuda, Spencer Burke, Yaroslav Muruhin and Tit Nam Cheng. On the women’s side, Clarisse Tan, Eden De La Cruz and Thea Fernandes.
Fencing epee for the women’s team is Yuna Tamura, Sophia Abashidze, Lena Gyenes and Allegra Cristofoletto. Sultan Hassan, Tim Xu, Sebastian Bonomo and Mohammed Yassin will fence epee for the men’s squad.
Neil Lilov, Tyson Deck, Michael Nil and Carlos Fernando Chacon will fence saber for the men’s team. Emma Holmes, Amelia Baker, Mia Novick and Stephanie Jen will fence saber for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State will take on the University of North Carolina, No. 8 men's / No. 3 women's University of Pennsylvania, No. 14 women's Wagner College and No. 17 men's / No. 22 women's Columbia University during the Brian Palestis Memorial Invitational.
LAST TIME ON THE STRIP
Penn State started the new semester at the Dave Michanik Penn Invitational at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia from January 17 – 18. Several fencers showed dominant outings to start off 2026.
Men’s foil fencer Tit Nam Cheng finished the invitational with a 15-3 record. On day one of the competition, Cheng fenced for three undefeated performances against the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Sacred Heart and Haverford as well as two additional wins against No. 22 Duke. During day two, Cheng went undefeated against Yale and won two bouts versus No. 5 Ohio State.
For the women’s foil team, Eden De La Cruz fenced undefeated against Sacred Heart University and Haverford during day one. De La Cruz also provided a win against No. 1
Cornell. During day two, De La Cruz fenced undefeated two more times versus Farleigh Dickinson University and the New Jersey Institute of Technology with another win against No. 7 Ohio State.
Eunyu Kim continues her dominant junior season for the women’s saber squad. Going up against Cornell and Duke, the No. 1 and No. 6 teams, respectively, Kim went 2-1 against both schools. Kim began day two of the competition against No. 7 Ohio State where she went undefeated and finished the invitational with a 2-1 performance against Yale.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Follow along with the Penn State Fencing team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateFen) and X/Instagram (@pennstatefen). Live updates during competitions regarding meet day information and other important notes will be posted on X.