Houston, Tex. - March 17, 2005 - The Penn State Nittany Lion men's and women's fencing teams are in the hunt for their record 10th NCAA combined championship after the first day of competition in the 2005 NCAA Fencing Championships in Houston, Tex.

Thanks to the outstanding performances of freshman Franz Boghicev (Dormaglu, Germany) in the saber and senior Non Panchan (Bangkok, Thailand), Penn State finds itself in third place with 47 points, only ten points off the pace set by leader Ohio State at 57. St. John's is in second place with 50. Following OSU, St. John's and Penn State was Notre Dame with 43 points.

Boghicev topped men's Saber standings with a bout record of 13-1 while foilist Panchan posted a 13-1 bout record to move to the top of the standings in foil. Wayne State University Marek Petraszek led the top epee fencer on the first day, going 13-1 with. Notre Dame's Michael Sobieraj sat in second place at 12-2.

Competition resumes at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. The men's gold medal bouts are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The women's competition begins Saturday at noon.

Team Standings (After Round 4)

 Place School Total 1. Ohio State University 57 2. St. John's University 50 3. Pennsylvania State University 47 4. Notre Dame 43 5. Harvard University 38 6. Columbia/Barnard 36 7. New York University 26 8. Princeton University 24 9. Pennsylvania, University of 21 10. Stanford University 20