University Park, Pa., January 22, 2005 - The Penn State men¡¯s and women¡¯s fencing teams both had solid performances in their last home dual meet of the season. Both men¡¯s and women¡¯s went undefeated, securing their respective 2nd and 3rd place rankings in the nation.

The men¡¯s teams had all around good performances in their 20-7 win against unranked Duke. They went on to squash Haverford 22-5 and finished off with a 17-10 win against Drew University.

Captain Marten Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) led the men¡¯s saber team, ending the day at 5-1 . Meanwhile, Freshman Franz Boghicev (Dormaglu, Germany) had a very strong showing defeating all of his opponents. Sophomore Ian Farr had a great day (Portland, Ore.) also going 5-. Freshman Alexander Vongries (Bloomington, Minn.) went 2-1 to finish the saber competition. Though they lost 4-5 to Drew, the epee team had a solid showing. Freshman Arthur Urman had an outstanding day, finishing 7-2 with fellow freshmen Ryan Wagner finishing 5-3 and Dennis Kraft (Ligonier, Pa.) going 3-3. Men¡¯s foil also had a great finish, with senior Jacob Clark (Waukesha, Wisc.) going undefeated. Senior Nonpatat Panchan (Bangkok, Thailand) battled his way to a perfect 6-0 as well. Freshman Jeffrey Chang (Homontin, Hong Kong) went 4-2, and Chris Miller (Salina, Kan.) finished his day at 3-3. Freshman Sergio Hey-Colon (Gagueis, Puerto Rico) competed strongly with a 1-1 record.

The women¡¯s teams had a triumphant day, with a 22-5 win over Drew, 24-3 against Haverford and 19-8 versus Duke. The women¡¯s foil led with a perfect record, winning all their bouts.

In the foil competition, Captain Meredith Chin (Wynnewood, Pa.) led fellow senior Rachel Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa.), junior Annekathrin Donath (Tauber, Germany), sophomore Tamara Najm (Morristown, N.J.) and freshman Sara Gonzalez (Princeton, N.J.) to their perfect finish. For the epee competition Katarzyna Trzopek (Warsaw, Poland) went 7-1, freshman Andre Wine also stepped up, with a record of 7-1. Case Szarwark (Nashville, Tenn.) also had a great performance with her finish of 7-1. Freshman Megan Lutheran (Glen Gardner, N.J.) went undefeated in a strong showing. In the saber bouts, sophomore Laura Hillstrom shined to a 7-2 finish. Lilly Matusiak fought very hard but finished only 2-7 on the day. And sophomore Sophia Hiss (Oklahoma City, Okla.) finished with a triumphant 8-1 record.

Penn State coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said he was ¡°¡­slightly disappointed¡­¡± the men¡¯s epee dropped a match to Haverford, but was proud of his squads overall performance.

Penn State has two more dual matches left in the season, one at Notre Dame next weekend and the other at Penn, on February 12. The Lions then head to the Junior Olympics in Arlington, Texas, February 18.