Regionals next for M. Fencing

Take the following names -- Jesse Schibilia, Soren Thompson, Adam Wiercioch, Ed Chou -- and present them to any layman on the street.

Don't be surprised to hear a confused, nonchalant grunt.

But take the list to any Penn men's fencer -- the guys who will actually be fencing the aforementioned players this weekend at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regional Championships at Drew University -- and the reaction will be quite the opposite.

"Ooh," Penn senior Jim Benson said regarding Thompson. "Soren is the one to beat."

What about Wiercioch, the Penn State epeeist who sent former NCAA champion and three-time All-American Dan Landgren to second on the depth chart?

Wiercioch "fences everybody differently," Benson said. "He's tough to pinpoint because he takes away your strengths."

Like it or not, Benson will get his chance to square off against Thompson, Wiercioch and the rest of the country's finest fencers at regionals.

The Quakers are sending nearly all their 2001-2002 starters to Drew. The only ones missing in action will be junior sabre Jit Fong Oon, who failed to qualify, and junior foilist Yale Cohen.

Cohen needs to score international points to make the U.S. National Team for the championships and will thus be competing at the World Cup in Venice.

Replacing Cohen will be freshman Steve Gavalas.

"As a freshman, I don't know how far I'll be able to go," Gavalas said. "But the sky's the limit. I'll just stay focused and hope for the best."

To qualify for regionals, a fencer must compete in half the season meets and win 40 percent of his bouts. Seeding, however, places an emphasis on quality wins, not record alone.

"The evaluation of your season record is on the strength of your schedule, as well as your win-loss record," Penn coach Dave Micahnik. "So having a weak schedule isn't actually going to get you a good seed in the regional.

"You can kill everybody and fence nobody -- it doesn't get you a good seed."

Once the fencers are ranked by the regional committee, the tournament begins. Afterwards, advancement to the NCAA nationals depends 60 percent on regional rank and 40 percent on the season-representative regional seedings.

Any close calls are determined by the regional committee, which recommends eligible fencers and alternates to the national committee. There are also two national at-large bids which are used, "to balance out some strength disparities among the regions," according to Micahnik.

A total of 72 fencers -- 24 in each weapon -- will then meet March 21-24 for the NCAA championships, also held at Drew.

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