Thirteen fencers will compete in the Junior Olympics in Chicago this weekend and three of them will try to qualify for the junior national team.

Stephen Flores, Katie Kowalski and Lisa Posthumus will fence to earn points to gain positions on the junior team which will compete in Vienna, Austria, later in the season.

"All of us are expected to make finals," Posthumus said. "The only way we wouldn't is if we were against each other in direct eliminations."

Posthumus, who will be fencing both epee and foil, has been to previous Junior Olympics and has consistently placed in the top 16. Last year she finished third in epee and fifth in foil. To make the epee world team, she must again finish in the top three.

Kowalski and Flores have also been earning points in the under-20 division to qualify for the national team. This is the fourth and final competition in which they can earn the necessary points.

"Flores, Kowalski and Posthumus are all in the top five or six as of now," assistant coach Wes Glon said. "But they are going to have to perform really well and hope some others do not."

Posthumus said that once they pass through the first few rounds, the competition starts getting tougher and they start fencing more familiar faces. Most of the fencers they will face in the first few rounds will be less experienced ones who have not reached the top 16.

Once the fencers make it to direct eliminations, though, their competitors will be higher ranked and tougher to defeat. Posthumus said one danger in the direct eliminations is being placed against another Penn State fencer or someone you know well. Last year, Kowalski fenced Posthumus' younger sister.

"It is very difficult to know who will make the team until the event is over," Glon said.

Most of the other fencers competing this weekend are freshmen, so they will be able to compete again. They cannot qualify for the national team now, but will have another shot next year.

The others traveling are Jennifer Carcich, Maureen Meighan, Carol Smith and Denise Stagg in women's foil, Richmond Ritterbush and William Haynes in men's foil, Jon D'Amico and Derek Nadalini in epee, and Ralph Amirata and Jonathan Pollack in sabre.