The NCAA News - News and Features

March 30, 1998

Penn State snatches fourth consecutive fencing championship

Penn State took home its fourth consecutive National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships title March 19-22 at Notre Dame after trailing the host school for the first three days of the tournament.

Penn State's two-point victory was the smallest winning margin since the Nittany Lions won the 1990 championship by one point.

The Lions' sole individual title came in women's epee. Penn State's four consecutive team victories ties the record held by Wayne State (Michigan), which won four straight men's championships from 1982 through 1985.

Penn State tallied 149 points in edging three-time runner-up Notre Dame. Stanford placed third with 128 points to finish behind the Nittany Lions and Fighting Irish for the second straight year.

Entering the final day of the tournament, Penn State trailed the Irish by three points, but rallied even though only one Nittany Lion advanced to the medal round of an event.

Charlotte Walker defeated Jessica Lisagor of Stanford in a semifinal contest in women's epee and went on to eliminate Nicole Dygert of St. John's (New York), 15-5, in the title bout.

"I had fenced (Dygert) before (winning, 5-4), and I did things that worked well for me," Walker said. "She is a good fencer, so I knew I had to think a lot more and be less aggressive out there."

Going into the final round, Penn State and Notre Dame were tied with 139 points each. Penn State went 6-0 in round-robin competition in men's foil, including victories by Tom Peng, who trailed in all three of his bouts before clinching the team's victory by winning each bout by 5-4 scores.

Peng knew what was at stake during his competition. "Notre Dame's epee team went undefeated, which was incredible," he said, "but I just tried to block everything out and focus on the last three bouts. I wanted to do it for myself and do the best I could."

Individually, Notre Dame's Luke LaValle beat Patrick Durkan of Columbia, 15-12, in the semifinals in men's sabre, then defeated Michael Golia of Pennsylvania to take the crown.

"I was really focused on the strip today," LaValle said about winning the title. "Yesterday, I was really nervous and wasn't really with it. I had no decision today but to come out differently. I just decided to go out and have fun. It was a lot more fun to win."

Durkan defeated Paolo Roselli of Cleveland State, 15-10, for third place honors.

George Hentea of St. John's (New York) achieved top honors in men's epee by knocking off round-robin leader and teammate Alex Roytblat in the semifinal bout, then beating Stanford's Eric Tribbett, 15-10.

"My reach was a big factor," Hentea said. "I was able to get at (Tribbett's) tempo and control the bout. I have a much longer reach, and the distance was the biggest aspect of the bout. I kept him away from me, and I controlled the distance."

Roytblat placed third in the event with his 15-8 triumph over Brian Stone of Notre Dame.

In men's foil, Ayo Griffin of Yale entered the championship round with the fewest wins of the four competitors -- 18. But Griffin took out Dan Kellner of Columbia in the semifinal contest, 15-12, then won the title with a 15-13 victory over Yaron Roth of Pennsylvania, who had beaten defending champion and teammate Cliff Bayer in the semifinals, 15-14.

Griffin's victory clinched Yale's first-ever NCAA individual title in fencing since the NCAA championships began in 1941.

"It was tight all the way, but I was able to maintain my focus at the end and come back and win," he said. "It's a wonderful feeling."

Felicia Zimmermann of Stanford earned top honors in women's foil. Zimmermann crushed Susan Jennings of Columbia-Barnard in the semifinals, 15-2, then defeated her teammate, Erinn Smart, in the final, 15-11.

"Erinn is such a tough competitor," Zimmermann said. "She fights to the end, and I finished it off just in time. She has great skills and a lot of potential. I had to fence really well to win."

Last year's runner-up in the weapon, Sara Walsh of Notre Dame, placed third in women's foil competition with a 15-9 win over Jennings.

National Collegiate men's and women's fencing

TEAM

1. Penn St., 149; 2. Notre Dame, 147; 3. Stanford, 128; 4. Columbia/Columbia-Barnard, 117; 5. St. John's (N.Y.), 114; 6. Pennsylvania, 99; 7. Yale, 93; 8. Princeton, 79; 9. New York U., 64; 10. Rutgers, 50.

11. Ohio St., 42; 12. Harvard, 37; 13. Brandeis, 33; 14. Cleveland St., 32; 15. Wayne St. (Mich.), 27; 16. Temple, 25; 17. UC San Diego, 23; 18. Air Force, 22; 19. North Caro., 18; 20. Northwestern, 14.

21. Boston College, 11; 22. (tie) Brown and Duke, 10; 24. Detroit, 9; 25. Cal St. Fullerton, 7; 26. Fairleigh Dickinson, 6; 27. (tie) Cornell and Case Reserve, 4; 29. MIT, 3; 30. Johns Hopkins, 2.

31. Lawrence, 1.

INDIVIDUAL

Men's foil

Semifinals: Yaron Roth, Pennsylvania, def. Cliff Bayer, Pennsylvania; Ayo Griffin, Yale, def. Dan Kellner, Columbia.

Third place: Bayer def. Kellner, 15-11.

Championship: Griffin def. Roth, 15-13.

Round-robin standings: 1. Cliff Bayer, Pennsylvania, 21-2; 2. Dan Kellner, Columbia, 20-3; 3. Ayo Griffin, Yale, 19-4; 4. Yaron Roth, Pennsylvania, 18-5; 5. Jed Dupree, Columbia, 18-5; 6. Gang Lu, Penn St., 18-5; 7. David Lidow, Penn St., 18-5; 8. Alex Wood, Stanford, 16-7; 9. Peter Devine, Yale, 14-9; 10. Jonathan Tiomkin, St. John's (N.Y.), 14-9.

11. Peter Rosen, Princeton, 11-12; 12. Colin Clinton, Brandeis, 11-12; 13. Jason Wells, North Caro., 11-12; 14. Tim Chang, Stanford, 10-13; 15. Robert Manchen, Duke, 10-13; 16. Ted Padgitt, UC San Diego, 10-13; 17. Jesse Mones, St. John's (N.Y.), 9-14; 18. John Tejada, Notre Dame, 9-14; 19. Stephane Auriol, Notre Dame, 6-17; 20. Richard Menzi, New York U., 4-19.

21. Brian Sirlin, Brandeis, 3-20; 22. Brian Osserman, Harvard, 3-20; 23. Monty Tuominen, Cleveland St., 2-21; 24. Jeff Peyton, Lawrence, 1-22.

Men's epee

Semifinals: George Hentea, St. John's (N.Y.), def. Alex Roytblat, St. John's (N.Y.); Eric Tribbett, Stanford, def. Brian Stone, Notre Dame.

Third place: Roytblat def. Stone, 15-8.

Championship: Hentea def. Tribbett, 15-10.

Round-robin standings: 1. Alex Roytblat, St. John's (N.Y.), 18-5; 2. Brian Stone, Notre Dame, 17-6; 3. Eric Tribbett, Stanford, 17-6; 4. George Hentea, St. John's (N.Y.), 16-7; 5. Michael Gattnar, Harvard, 15-8; 6. John Gringeri, Rutgers, 15-8; 7. Noah Zucker, Columbia, 15-8; 8. Tom Peng, Penn St., 15-8; 9. Josh Leslie, New York U., 15-8; 10. Marco Acerra, Princeton, 14-9.

11. Carl Jackson, Notre Dame, 13-10; 12. Tom Hunt, Stanford, 12-11; 13. Jason Burrell, Princeton, 11-12; 14. Brendan Baby, Penn St., 10-13; 15. Geoff Kane, Ohio St., 10-13; 16. Andrew Prihodko, Harvard, 10-13; 17. Charles Hamann, Pennsylvania, 10-13; 18. Abe Berman, New York U., 8-15; 19. Jesse Carlson, Cal St. Fullerton, 7-16; 20. Ryan Moon, Air Force, 7-16.

21. John Wright, Pennsylvania, 7-16; 22. Aaron Waxler, Brandeis, 7-16; 23. Elie Gurarie, Case Reserve, 4-19; 24. Matt Coates, MIT, 3-20.

Men's sabre

Semifinals: Michael Golia, Pennsylvania, def. Paolo Roselli, Cleveland St.; Luke LaValle, Notre Dame, def. Patrick Durkan, Columbia.

Third place: Durkan def. Roselli, 15-10.

Championship: LaValle def. Golia, 15-11.

Round-robin standings: 1. Paolo Roselli, Cleveland St., 20-3; 2. Patrick Durkan, Columbia, 18-5; 3. Luke LaValle, Notre Dame, 17-6; 4. Michael Golia, Pennsylvania, 17-6; 5. Paul Palestis, New York U., 16-7; 6. Aaron Steuwe, Penn St., 16-7; 7. Michael Takagi, Penn St., 16-7; 8. Keeth Smart, St. John's (N.Y.), 13-10; 9. Graham Brooks, Princeton, 12-11; 10. Tim Morehouse, Brandeis, 12-11.

11. Andrzej Bednarski, Notre Dame, 12-11; 12. Maxim Pekarev, Princeton, 11-12; 13. Luke Mountain, Boston College, 11-12; 14. Jeffrey Colella, Rutgers, 10-13; 15. Jon Taqqu, Brown, 10-13; 16. Chaun Shaahid, Cleveland St., 10-13; 17. Mitsu Sudo, Yale, 10-13; 18. Mark Bara, Detroit, 9-14; 19. Lee Scheffler, Harvard, 9-14; 20. James Steiner, Air Force, 8-15.

21. Sasha Zucker, Stanford, 7-16; 22. John Johnson, Rutgers, 6-17; 23. Taka Sudo, Yale, 4-19; 24. John Chang, Johns Hopkins, 2-21.

Women's foil

Semifinals: Felicia Zimmermann, Stanford, def. Susan Jennings, Columbia-Barnard; Erinn Smart, Columbia-Barnard, def. Sara Walsh, Notre Dame.

Third place: Walsh def. Jennings, 15-9.

Championship: Zimmermann def. Smart, 15-11.

Round-robin standings: 1. Felicia Zimmermann, Stanford, 21-2; 2. Sara Walsh, Notre Dame, 21-2; 3. Erinn Smart, Columbia-Barnard, 20-3; 4. Susan Jennings, Columbia-Barnard, 18-5; 5. Monique de Bruin, Stanford, 17-6; 6. Myriah Brown, Notre Dame, 17-6; 7. Patricia Szelle, Ohio St., 16-7; 8. Yelena Kalkina, Ohio St., 16-7; 9. Kate Zuckerman, Yale, 16-7; 10. Carla Esteva, Penn State, 14-9.

11. Agata Wysiadecka, Wayne St., (Mich.), 13-10; 12. Hannah Appel, Yale, 11-12; 13. Karen Moroney, St. John's (N.Y.), 11-12; 14. Christina Orrico, Rutgers, 8-15; 15. Jaime Beecher, Temple, 8-15; 16. Angela Hai, New York U., 8-15; 17. Jagna Gromulska, Pennsylvania, 7-16; 18. Zoe Hawes, Air Force, 7-16; 19. Marissa Barnes-Hopkins, Temple, 6-17; 20. Claire Jackson, Penn St., 6-17.

21. Karla Romanek, St. John's (N.Y.), 6-17; 22. Margo Katz, Pennsylvania, 5-18; 23. Orsi Szotyory-Grove, Princeton, 2-21; 24. Emily De Villa, New York U., 2-21.

Women's epee

Semifinals: Charlotte Walker, Penn St., def. Jessica Lisagor, Stanford; Nicole Dygert, St. John's (N.Y.), def. Nicole Mustilli, Notre Dame.

Third place: Lisagor def. Mustilli, 15-11.

Championship: Walker def. Dygert, 15-5.

Round-robin standings: 1. Charlotte Walker, Penn St., 20-3; 2. Nicole Mustilli, Notre Dame, 19-4; 3. Nicole Dygert, St. John's (N.Y.), 18-5; 4. Jessica Lisagor, Stanford, 17-6; 5. Alexandra Korfanty, Penn St., 16-7; 6. Magda Krol, Notre Dame, 16-7; 7. Michelle Schaffner, Northwestern, 14-9; 8. Marta Sciubisz, Wayne St. (Mich.), 14-9; 9. Kari Coley, Pennsylvania, 14-9; 10. Janet Wertz, UC San Diego, 13-10.

11. Laura Cunningham, Rutgers, 11-12; 12. Nelia Mann, Stanford, 11-12; 13. Kristiina Hurme, Princeton, 11-12; 14. Gina DeIeso, Temple, 11-12; 15. Sharon Katz, Yale, 10-13; 16. Christy Beckert, New York U., 10-13; 17. Whitney Anderson, Yale, 9-14; 18. Raven Johnson, St. John's (N.Y.), 9-14; 19. Melinda Mellman, Columbia-Barnard, 8-15; 20. Melanie Byrd, North Caro., 7-16.

21. Matilda Acerra, Princeton, 7-16; 22. Catie Webb, Fairleigh Dickinson, 6-17; 23. Nancy Allen, Cornell, 4-19; 24. Nancy Martin, New York U., 1-22.