Jeff Feinblatt wasn't one of the highlighted fencers heading into last weekend's National American Cup fencing tournament, but he emerged from the shadows to finish brighter than the shine on his foil sword.

"I thought I did a really good job," said Feinblatt, who finished third among all junior foil fencers. "I was real happy with it."

Feinblatt wasn't the only one happy with his performance. Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov, who was somewhat disappointed in his team's overall performance, singled out Feinblatt's showing.

"He's growing," Kaidanov said. "He's getting to the level we want to see."

Already at the level Kaidanov likes to see out of his fencers is Olga Kalinovskaya, who fought her way to an impressive fifth-place finish.

"It wasn't bad. (The tournament) was like a lot of good people there," Kalinovskaya said. "I could've done better."

Another Olga -- Olga Chernyak -- couldn't have fenced much better at the tournament. She accomplished what she had set out to do by solidifying her position on the United States National Team with an 11th-place finish.

Andy Gearhart barely kept his position on the U.S. National Team by just missing the men's foil finals and placing 17th. As a result, Gearhart will have to make finals in the rest of his competitions to ensure himself of his position.

Other members of the Penn State fencing team who placed in the top 16 were Assistant Coach and former member Suzie Paxton (sixth place), Tom Strzalkowski (seventh), Kimo Quaintaince (seventh), Wes Waldron (eighth) and Sibyl Goldstein (11th).

"I was happy with my result," Strzalkowski said, adding that all six fencers in front of him were former Olympians.

Despite his slight disappointment with the overall showing, Kaidanov insisted that everything will fall into place.

"The level is there," Kaidanov said. "The quality of fencing is there. Given time, we will be in our best shape."