WALTHAM, Mass., February 1, 2004 - The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams held their own today with an impressive finish, defeating all six of their competitors in the Brandeis/MIT Invitational. The Nittany Lion squads fenced against Brown, Boston College, Harvard, MIT, NYU, and host Brandeis. After today's performance, the women's team holds a 10-1 record, and the men's team stands at 9-2 for the season.

The women's team performed extremely well with a 23-4 finish over the host of the invitational, Brandeis, and it also beat Boston College by a 23-4 margin. With a 19-8 effort, the Nittany Lion women also executed well against their only ranked opponent, No. 9 Harvard, before posting an 18-9 victory over NYU. After an astounding 25-2 effort against co-host of the invitational, MIT, the women's team finished up its day defeating Brown, 20-7.

In women's epee, freshman Case Szarwark (Nashville, Tenn.) had an amazing 15-1 record for the day, while her sophomore teammate Katarzyna Trzopek (Warsaw, Poland) also performed well with a 15-4 performance. Women's foil also saw good results, with sophomore Annekathrin Donath (Touber, Germany) leading the way with an outstanding 17-1 effort. Junior Meredith Chin (Wynnewood, Pa.) finished at 12-4, while senior Marta Grochal (Poznan, Poland), posted an impressive 14-2 record. In women's saber, freshman Sophia Hiss (Oklahoma City, Okla.) triumphed with a 13-2 effort. Fellow freshman Laura Hillstrom (Gaithersburg, Md.) also performed extremely well today with a mark of 15-2. Senior Heather Brosnan (Portland, Ore.) saw limited action today with a winning 6-1 effort.

The men's team fenced superbly as well today against its opponents. The Nittany Lion men began with a 20-7 win over invitational host, Brandeis, and then defeated Boston College, 23-4. They followed this up with a 17-10 win against Harvard and a 19-8 win against NYU. They continued on to beat MIT 23-4 and finished their day with another 23-4 win against Brown.

In the men's saber, freshman Ian Farr (Portland, Ore.) had an amazing 15-1 effort today and his fellow teammate, sophomore Marten Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.), also performed well with a 12-2 performance. Senior Amir Rahimi (Plano, Texas) fenced excellently with a 15-3 effort. In men's foil, freshman Ian Hamilton (New York, N.Y.) executed a 13-3 record and junior Ian Schlaepfer (Rohnert Park, Calif.) also did well with a 12-3 mark. Lastly, in men's epee, senior Adam Wiercioch (Gilwice, Poland) had an outstanding finish at 10-2.

Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was extremely impressed with his men's and women's fencing teams today and looks forward to their next meet. On today's performance, Kaidanov said that all the fencers showed a "pretty good performance."

The teams will enjoy a week off this week after back-to-back dual meet weekends.