Fencing wins first five matches, prepares for Penn State, Chicago

The Johns Hopkins Men's Fencing team burst out of the gates with a perfect weekend, winning all five of its matches.

The Blue Jays defeated Haverford, 17-10, Virginia Tech, 19-8, St. John's (Md.), 24-3, Yeshiva, 22-5, and Maryland, 20-7.

The fencing team showed it will still be a force to be reckoned with despite the retirement of longtime coach Dick Oles, who retired this spring after 45 years as head fencing coach. Though these teams were primarily from Division III, Hopkins remained focused and did not become complacent.

Under the tutelage of the new head coach, Austin Young, the team brought its "A" game and made a good impression in its opener. Young has had countless years of experience with fencing; he is the owner and head coach of the Clinton Fencing Club in Lebanon, N.J. and has experience instructing in all three weapons. Also, he has college experience, working as an assistant coach at Rutgers University for several years and helping the Scarlet Knights finish in the top 15 at the NCAA Championships.

"The team performed very well, as usual," said sophomore Ken Park, a first year varsity fencer. "We had fenced [a] total of five schools this weekend, and we won all of them. The saber team struggled a bit against the Virginia Tech's varsity team, winning only three bouts against them. However the team still pulled out a 19-8 victory. It was encouraging to see our team coming out so strong. It definitely set a positive tone for the rest of the season. We'll be fencing at Chicago this weekend, I expect the same high caliber performance."

The Jays hope to continue their winning ways under their new coach. However their next matches will be much more challenging than the ones this past weekend. They will travel to Chicago, Ill. for the Northwestern Invitational, where they will face formidable Division I competition.

Meanwhile, the Women's Fencing squad got its start a week earlier, participating in the Temple Open, an individual event.

Senior Christina Giblin led the Blue Jays by posting an eighth place finish in the foil. Several other Hopkins foil fencers also performed well. Senior Susan Park came in 28th, sophomore Liz Ordun finished 31st and freshman Joanna Kochaniak was 33rd.

Freshman Kerry Xie finished 51st, freshman Catherine Chen placed 67th, and freshmen Samantha Wang came in 69th.

In the sabre competition, Georgiana Lee led the squad, finishing 22nd. Sophomore Kate Dunne also had a strong showing, placing 29th.?Freshman Sarah Smilow came in 32nd and sophomore Julia Lawrence was 37th. Freshman Kimberly Strazdas placed 42nd, freshman Rachel Sussman came in 47th and sophomore Ann Kim finished 57th.

For epee, Hopkins' top finisher was freshman Janani Ramprasad, who finished 28th. Junior Caroline Grey and sophomore Laura Briskin also turned in solid performances, finishing 37th and 38th, respectively.

Sophomores Jeannette Alvarez, Cathy Gallagher, and Alexia Robinson finished 52nd, 55th, and 61st, respectively.?Freshman Allisandra Wen came in 62nd.

Next up for the women's team is the Penn State Open at State College.