State College, Pa.; January 18, 2006 - The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams, under the guidance of veteran head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov, have both earned lofty rankings in the first USFCA Coaches Poll of the 2005-06 season. The Nittany Lion women are ranked second in the poll while the men are ranked third.

Notre Dame tops the list on the women's side, just ahead of Penn State. Columbia is third while Ohio State is fourth and Harvard fifth. St. John's (6), Northwestern (7), Yale (8), Penn (t9) and Princeton (t9) round out the top ten.

Ohio State is ranked first on the men's side with Notre Dame following in second and Penn State close behind in third. Harvard is fourth and Columbia is fifth. The rest of the top ten is comprised of St. John's (6), Princeton (7), Penn (8), Stanford (9) and Duke (10).

The Nittany Lion women are off to a 5-0 start this season with wins over North Carolina, Rutgers, Princeton, Harvard and New York University. The men are 4-1, with wins over North Carolina, Rutgers, Princeton and NYU. The Lions did suffer a 14-13 upset loss to Harvard.

Penn State will host an exciting set of duals on Saturday, Jan. 28, beginning at 9 a.m. Duke, Penn, North Carolina and St. John's are among the teams competing.