2022-23 PSU Fencing Thread

[Tom McAndrew]

Over the years, I've thought of starting a fencing thread. I never did, and would usually only post about it during qualifying events and at Nationals. In continuing with my theme of having separate threads for PSU teams that some of you are interested in, I'm setting up a thread for this season's fencing team.

Please use this thread for all discussions about PSU fencing, including meets, opens, and Nationals.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[BobPSU92]

Hola, Ola.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[fairgambit]

I love fencing, Lauren Cohan style.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Evan Ceg]

I wonder what Pat Kraft is going to do about the Fencing program's head coaching job. Wes Glon was placed on paid leave in September (for a second time) and fourth-year assistant Adam Kaszubowski has been the interim HC this season. Will Kraft reinstate Glon after this season, allow Glon's contract to expire (if it does), promote Kaszubowski to the permanent job or look outside the program for a fresh start?

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

The NCAA Championships take place March 23 thru the 26th.

The men competed today, through 3 rounds, in saber, epee, and foil.

At the end of Day 1 of the competition, PSU is in 7th place.

In Men's Saber, Clement Perrier is in 17th place.

In Men's Foil, Arwen Borowiak is in 9th place and Aidan Johnson is in 12th place.

In Men's Epee, Ryan Griffiths is in 10th place.

I believe you can follow the team standings, and how the individual PSU competitors do at Nationals, at:

2023 NCAA Championships Results

 

[Tom McAndrew]

After 3 days of Nationals, PSU is in 8th place, behind:

1. Notre Dame
2. Princeton
3. Columbia/Barnard
4. Ohio State
5. Harvrd
6. Univ. of Pennsylvania
7. St. John's

Of the completed events:

Men's Saber:
- PSU's Clement Perrier finished 15th
- Notre Dame's Luke Linder defeated St. John's Fares Ferjani in the final

Men's Foil:
- PSU's Arwen Borowiak finished 8th
- PSU's Aidan Johnson finished 9th
- St. John's Jan Jurkiewicz defeated Princeton's Mohamed Hamza in the final

Men's Epee
- PSU's Ryan Griffiths finished 13th
- Harvard's Jonas Hansen defeated Ohio State's Paul Veltrup in the final

The women's competition is through 3 rounds. Here's where things stand heading into the final day of competition in those events:

Women's Saber:
- PSU's Aleksandra Strzałkowski is in 20th place
- Princeton's Chloe Fox-Gitomer is in 1st place and Brandeis' Maggie Shealy is in 2nd place

Women's Foil:
- PSU's Samantha Catantan is in 13th place
- Princeton's Maia Weintraub is in 1st place and Notre Dame's Amita Berthier is in 2nd place

Women's Epee:
- PSU's Kateryna Chorniy is in 15th place
- Notre Dame's Kaylin Hsieh is in 1st place, Notre Dame's Eszter Mohair is in 2nd place, and Princeton's Jessica Lin is in 3rd place (they each have won 13 of 15 bouts)

 

[BobPSU92]

Crap. We used to not suck.

 

[GrimReaper]

Crap. We used to not suck.

The dynamic of recruiting high school fencers is interesting. Many/most come from families that don't need financial aid and a lot of the top colleges don't offer athletic scholarships. Guess what they do offer?

 

[Tom McAndrew]

The final team standings at the 2023 Nationals:

1. Notre Dame
2. Princeton
3. Columbia/Barnard
4. Harvard
5. Ohio State
6. Univ. of Pennsylvania
7. St. John's
8. PSU

In the 3 competitions for which only 3 rounds were completed as of my last update (after Saturday's competition), they played out as:

Women's Saber:
- PSU's Aleksandra Strzałkowski finished 21st
- Columbia/Barbard's Nora Burke defeated Harvard's Elizabeth Tartakovsky in the final

Women's Foil:
- PSU's Samantha Catantan finished 11th
- Harvard's Lauren Scruggs defeated Princeton's May Tieu in the final

Women's Epee:
- PSU's Kateryna Chorniy finished 15th
- Notre Dame's Eszter Mohair defeated Princeton's Jessica Lin in the final

 

[Evan Ceg]

PSU Fencing coach Wes Glon's retirement was announced at GoPSUsports.com this morning. Glon was certainly a very knowledgeable and accomplished fencing coach, but his coaching career finished in controversy, fair or unfair. He was twice suspended by the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, which in each case was immediately followed by suspensions by ICA, including all of this past season.

The first suspension centered on Glon's alleged attempt to suppress a report of sexual harassment of a non-PSU female fencing official by Glon's assistant coach, who was subsequently terminated by PSU. The second suspension was due to a lawsuit from a female PSU fencer alleging emotional abuse by Glon. Glon won a court reinstatement from Safe Sport that ended the first suspension. I'm not in a position to judge the merits of either case. Regardless, it's sad his career ended this way. Some here might remember that Glon's coaching mentor and predecessor Emmanuil "Emik" Kaidanov also had a messy end to his PSU coaching career circa 2013.

I don't know if Glon's retirement was his idea or Pat Kraft's, although Glon is of retirement age. I assume interim head coach Adam Kaszubowski will soon have his "interim" tag removed, but it's possible Kraft will want a clean slate in the Fencing coaching offices. We'll see.