SAN JOSE, Calif., January 12, 2004 - The Penn State men's fencing team's phenomenal freshman, Ian Farr (Portland, Ore.), posted a very impressive ninth-place finish on a national stage this weekend in the junior portion of the U.S. Olympic Trial/North American Cup Junior Open held at the Convention Center in San Jose, California. Farr just missed reaching the finals of the extremely competitive event.

Only halfway through his debut season with the Nittany Lions, Farr has already put together quite a collegiate resume in the men?s saber. He kicked off the season winning both the Penn State Junior Championship title and the Nittany Lion Cup Open title in the same weekend. Farr followed up that remarkable performance with a men's saber title at the Temple Open. Farr also finished in the top 16 of the Junior World Cup, his first national tournament as a Nittany Lion.

Fencing in the men's saber open division, All-American sophomore Marten Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) logged a solid 25th-place finish. Zagunis has also been very effective is tournament action this season. He claimed the Garret Penn State Open title back in November, and he recorded a ninth-place finish at last month?s U.S. Olympic Trials.

With their strong finishes at this weekend's tournament, Farr and Zagunis both earned important points toward selection to the U.S. National Team.

Three-time All-American Heather Brosnan (Portland, Ore.) had planned to compete in the women's saber, but she was unable to fence due to an injury she has been battling all season.

The U.S. Olympic Trial/NAC Junior Open will continue next weekend, with the men's and women's foil and the women's epee scheduled for Jan. 16-18. Sophia Hiss (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Case Szarwark (Nashville, Tenn.) and Katarzyna Trzopek (Warsaw, Poland) will fence for Penn State in this portion of the tournament.