Blue White Illustrated

a university anti-retaliation policy. As- sistant Wes Glon was named interim coach following Kaidanov's ouster, and he succeeded in getting the team refo- cused on the season ahead. The Nittany Lions excelled in late-season events at Temple and Notre Dame, and qualified the maximum 12 fencers (six men, six women) for the national tournament. Heading into the NCAA championships, the Penn State men were ranked first by CollegeFencing360.com, while the women were fifth. At nationals, the Lions piled up 180 bout victories. In addition to Streets' champi- onship, they got top-10 :nishes from Bak (sixth in saber), Nobuo Bravo and David Willette (third and fourth, respectively, in men's foil) and Conor Shepard (10th in epee). Glon, who has been on Penn State's fencing sta; since 1985, was elated with the performance. "I feel fantastic, absolutely fantastic," he said. "I'm proud of the team. They were so determined to win, and they did. I'm really proud of the kids." Streets said he was eager to help bring the seniors a national championship. The Nittany Lions hadn't won one since 2010, which meant that the graduating fencers were in jeopardy of leaving without a title – a rarity at the nation's most successful program. "I didn't want them to leave Penn S t a te w i t h o u t a c h a m p i o n s h i p ," Streets said. "So my first goal was to help them win their first one. Winning an individual championship was just a plus." ■ hings just didn't work out for Kaito Streets at the NCAA Mid-At- lantic/South Regional in early March. The sophomore fencer from Redwood City, Calif., had :nished eighth the year before and was hoping for more than just a modest improvement over that performance. When he ended up placing sixth, it was a disappointment both to himself and his coaches. So as he prepared for the national tournament, he decided he needed to take a new approach, mentally and strategically. "Going in, I had to prove something," he said. "I had a simple game plan: :ght for every bout, every touch. And it worked out." Did it ever. Streets shined for the Nittany Lions, winning 22 matches to claim the men's saber championship at the NCAA tour- nament, which took place March 20-23 at Ohio State. His victory total put him in a tie with Notre Dame foilist Gerek Mein- hardt for most wins in the championships. Better yet, those wins helped propel Penn State to the national crown. The Nittany Lions pulled away from Princeton and St. John's on day three to claim their 13th team title. With Streets leading the way – he was given a joyride around St. John Arena on the shoulders of his team- mates – the Lions adopted a backs-to- the-wall outlook, disregarding the pro- gram's stellar history and casting them- selves instead as unheralded upstarts. "It was just a mindset," Streets said. "Last year, we were the favorites and it didn't work out. This year, we had the mindset of being underdogs, and we knew we had to prove something. We came out :ring." Streets said that a

• Cover