STATE COLLEGE, Pa., March 16, 2004 ¨C The No. 2 Penn State men¡¯s fencing team and the No. 3 women¡¯s squad march into the 2005 National Collegiate Men¡¯s and Women¡¯s Fencing Championships later this week, March 17-20. The Championships will be held in Houston, Texas, at the George R. Brown Convention Center, and hosted by Rice University and the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.

The Championships will begin with round-robins of 24 fencers in five-touch bouts. After the round-robins, the top four fencers in each event will fence direct elimination 15-touch bouts for first, second, third and fourth place. Absolute ties for the seeding will be broken as follows: for positions one through three, by a coin toss; for position four, by a fence-off. Each school¡¯s overall place finish in the Championships will be based on points earned by its individual representatives. Teams will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.

The Championships will kick off at 10 a.m. on Thursday with the first four rounds of the men¡¯s side of the event, which features 72 of the nation¡¯s top male fencers. Rounds five through seven of the men¡¯s event will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. The men¡¯s Championships will conclude with the last rounds at 2 pm, followed by the overall opening ceremonies for the Championships.

The 72 female Championship qualifiers will take to the strips for the first four rounds at noon on Saturday. Rounds five through seven are set to begin at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, with the Gold Medal Bouts scheduled to follow at 2 p.m. The Champions will be announced immediately afterwards. The Combined National Champion will be determined by adding up the points scored by each team¡¯s male and female representatives.

The Penn State men¡¯s team qualified a total of five competitors and three alternates, while the women¡¯s team qualified six competitors along with one alternate. The 11 competing athletes will attempt to not only achieve their individual Championship, but will battle to bring the trophy back to University Park.

Representing the men¡¯s foil, three-time All-American Nonpatat Panchan (Bangkok, Thailand) will look to become only the second Penn State men¡¯s fencer (and third overall) to win three or more NCAA titles. Freshman Jeffery Chang (Homontin, Hong Kong) will also compete for the Nittany Lions. Panchan missed last year¡¯s Championships while he was competing on the Thailand Olympic team. He went 34-2 in the dual meet season before claiming the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional title a couple weeks ago. Chang finished the season at 14-9 and earned second-place honors at Regionals. They are joined by alternate senior Jacob Clark (Waukesha, Wisc.), who finished at 16-4 and placed just behind Chang, in third-place.

The only member of the Penn State squad to compete in the epee event this year is freshman Arthur Urman (Maalot, Israel). Urman had a strong 34-8 finish his first year as a Nittany Lion. He previously won the Israeli National Junior Championship in both 1999 and 2000. In 1998, he also helped guide his high school to a national title.

In the men¡¯s saber, sophomore Ian Farr (Portland, Ore.) and freshman Franz Boghicev (Dormaglu, Germany) will represent a very talented Nittany Lion saber squad. Farr finished at 24-9 in dual meet bouts and stormed through last week to claim the Regional title for the second year in a row. Outstanding youngster, Boghicev came in very close behind with a season record of 24-4 and second place at Regionals. Team captain Marten Zagunis (Beaverton, Ore.) and Axel Reblewski (Les Molieres, France) will serve as the alternates after placing third and fourth, respectively, at Regionals.

Senior Co-captain Meredith Chin (Wynnewood, Pa.) and two-year All-American junior Annekathrin Donath (Touber, Germany) will lead Penn State¡¯s dominate women¡¯s foil team. Chin went 33-12 during the dual meet season. Donath went 32-9 in dual meet bouts and looks to make a solid run at the national title. Tamara Najm (Morristown, N.J.) concluded the regular dual meet season at an impressive 38-9 and will go to the Championships as an alternate.

Representing Penn State in the women¡¯s epee will be sophomore Case Szarwark (Nashville, Tenn.) and junior Andrea Wine (Houston, Tx.). Szarwark produced a consecutive strong season for the Lions, finishing 37-8. Wine, one of Penn State¡¯s most experienced fencers, finished her regular season at 33-8. 2003 National Champion, Katarzyna Trzopek (Warsaw, Poland) unfortunately suffered two fractures in one leg, just days before the Mid-Atlantic/Southern Regionals and was unable to compete in this year¡¯s Championships. The women¡¯s saber squad battled to qualify two of Penn State¡¯s, sophomore Sophia Hiss (Oklahoma City, Okla.), who had an outstanding freshman season last year and junior Laura Hillstrom (Gaithersburg, Md.). Hiss went 45-6 on the season to prove once-more her reach of talent. She finished Regionals undefeated while Hillstrom also proved worthy, going 23-16 on the season.

The Penn State fencing teams are under the direction of highly regarded 23rd-year head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov. Since he started at Penn State back in 1983, he has guided team to an incredible combined record of 572-42-1, solidifying the reputation the Nittany Lions hold as being one of the most powerful teams in the NCAA.

Penn State has won nine NCAA Combined Championships since the men's and women's combined scoring format was instituted in 1990. They look to recapture the title after coming in a close second to Big Ten rival, Ohio State.