Columbus, Ohio — The Penn State fencing team lost their opportunity to defend their national championship from last year. The Nittany Lions got off to a rough start in women's action, and had a hard time gaining ground since. Columbia finished with 158 points, just three points ahead of Penn State to take third place.
Penn State had many highlights on Sunday with three individual fencers. The Nittany Lions represented one fencer in each of the three final four brackets. However, Penn State did not have a fencer crowned national champion for their division this year.
Senior Arthur Urman (Maalot, Israel) had the best finish for the Nittany Lions in the epee divison. The All-American captain took a second place finish in the gold medal bouts. In pool play, Urman finished with 15 victories, that was good enough for a three seed in the bracket. He defeated GrahamWicas (Princeton) in the first round of the final four. He then lost to Slava Zingerman (Wayne State) in the final. Also in the division, junior James Moody (Denver, Colo.) finished in 17th place with nine victories.
In the saber division, sophomore Daniel Bak (Franklin Lakes, N.J.) finished in third place for the national championship. In pool play, Bak finished with 17 victories, which was good enough for a four seed in the tournament. He lost in the first round to Mike Momtselidze (Ohio State). In the consolation matchup, he defeated Luther Clement (St. Johns) to capture a third place finish for the championship. Franz Boghicev (Dormagen, Germany) was the other notable finisher in the division taking fifth place with 16 victories.
Sophomore Nick Chinman (Boulder, Colo.), made the final four in the foil division with 18 victories. He earned the four seed, but lost in the consolation bracket to give him a fourth place overall finish. Freshman standout Samuel Perkins (Petaluma, Calif.) also had a strong weekend, and will be a national title contender in the years to come. Perkins finished in 12th place for the championships with a total of 11 victories.
The championships have been taped, and highlights from the championship can be seen on Saturday May 3, at 1 p.m. on CBS
Final Standings
1. Ohio State University 185
2. Notre Dame 176
3. Columbia/Barnard 158
4. Pennsylvania State University 155
5. St. John's University 145
6. Harvard University 101
7. Pennsylvania 92
8. Stanford University 68
9. Wayne State University 66
10. Princeton University 59