This weekend at the Temple Open both the men’s and women’s fencing teams had strong finishes at their first competition of the academic year.
At the two-day tournament — the largest individual collegiate meet in the nation — the Quakers faced 29 other opponents including host Temple, Penn State and Notre Dame.
For the men competing in foil, freshman Evan Prochniak and senior Jonathan Berkowsky took first and second, respectively. Freshman Sinatrio Rharjo finished close behind in sixth.
The Quakers had another one-two finish in saber where sophomore Alex Simmons placed first, while classmate Vidur Kapur finished one spot behind him. Also competing in saber, senior Andrew Bielen earned a fifth-place finish.
Another top-ten performance for the Red and Blue was junior Jacob Wischnia’s 10th-place finish in epee.
The women, too, had a strong showing in Temple’s McGonigle Hall.
Junior Danielle Kamis, who received 2008 All-Ivy honors, took the top spot in saber.
Another strong performance for the Quakers was freshman Amrit Bhinder’s second-place finish in epee.
Sophomore Laura Paragano had a third place finish for Penn in foil.
Sophomore Mia Howell and freshman Aida Abdikulova also competed in foil, finishing 14th and 16th, respectively.
The tournament saw the debut of coach Andy Ma, who leads both teams.
Both teams do not have another competition on their schedule until Sunday Jan. 10, 2010, when they will host the Philadelphia Invitational.
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