Blue White Illustrated

T rust the process, advises one of the more unavoidable sports clichés of re- cent years. But you can hardly blame Wes Glon for feeling a bit skeptical. When the veteran fencing coach talks about "going through the process," he's talking mostly about the many setbacks and obstacles that need to be overcome during the course of a long season. His Nittany Lions have had their share this year. "So far, we have not had our best team competing at the same time," Glon said in February. "Someone is always injured or sick. So far, we have not had a chance to put the whole team together and perform in one place." The Nittany Lions are hoping they will finally get that chance in the coming days, as they prepare to host the NCAA cham- pionships March 22-25 at the Indoor Multi-Sport Facility. It will be the first time since 2009 that the NCAA tourna- ment has taken place at University Park. The Lions won the tourney that year in record-breaking fashion, and while a reprise would certainly be nice, a victory of any kind, lopsided or not, would be most welcome. "As a program, we've bid on this for a number of years, and it was great news when we found out we got it," Glon said. "This is what we've been looking forward to, the opportunity to compete for a championship at home. The last time we had the NCAA championships here, we broke the record for individual titles [at a single NCAA tournament]. We won four individual titles out of the six. I don't think it's possible to beat this, but we are looking forward to hosting the champi- onships." In that 2009 tournament, Penn State's Nicholas Chinman and Doris Willette claimed individual foil championships, Anastasia Ferdman won the women's epee and Aleksander Ochocki won the men's saber. That will indeed be a tough act to follow. Heading into the NCAA re- gionals March 10-11, the Penn State men were ranked fifth nationally behind Ohio State, Harvard, Columbia and Notre Dame, while the women were fourth be- hind Notre Dame, Columbia and Ohio State. The Nittany Lions prepared for the postseason by claiming three individual titles at the Mid-Atlantic/South Regional at University Park. Barbara VanBenthuy- sen was first in the epee, while Zara Moss and Andrew Mackiewicz won saber championships. As of mid-March, Penn State's athletic program as a whole had claimed 49 NCAA team championships all-time, with the fencers responsible for nearly a third of those titles. The Nittany Lions have 13 national championships, more than any other program in collegiate fencing since 1990, when the NCAA began combining the men's and women's results to award one coed title. The Penn State women also have a title that predates the change in format, hav- ing claimed first place in 1983. The Lions' most recent title was in 2014, with Glon serving as interim coach following the dismissal of longtime coach Em- manuil Kaidanov before the start of the season. Like so many of its predecessors, this year's team features athletes from all over the world. On the men's squad, there are fencers from as far away as Ecuador, Italy and China, and as nearby as State Col- lege. Italy and China are represented on the women's team, too, as are Malaysia, Sin- gapore and France. One of those French fencers, junior Anastasia Kalonji of Rennes, has been an epee standout, fin- ishing fifth at regionals. For those fencers and their teammates, the postseason began earlier this month with the regional meet. But the big show is only now about to get under way. "It's very exciting to be hosting the NCAA championships this year," said Moss, a freshman from Cranberry Town- ship, Pa. "Every time we compete, even in our road dual meets, it's a lot of fun. But our home meets are a different environ- ment. When we're at home, my family and friends are able to come, so it's a lot more fun." ■ SABER RATTLING Penn State will get to stay home as it vies for another NCAA fencing championship | VARSITY VIEWS LOOK SHARP Andrew Mack- iewicz takes on a Columbia op- ponent during a match last season. Co- lumbia will be headed to PSU for the upcom- ing NCAA tour- nament. Photo by Craig Houtz/Penn State Athletics

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