Stashed away deep in the White Building's fencing room, Coach Emmanuil Kaidanov and his staff have little cookie cutters shaped like epée fencers. With them, he molded one of the nations toughest men's epée teams, and last August the NCAA forced him to get new cookie cutters -- in the shape of women epée fencers.

With the NCAA adopting the proposed plan to instill women's epée fencing last August, it made the dream of a women's epée team a reality. It also gave Kaidanov and company the chance to knead some fresh dough.

Now the question facing Penn State is how these women with little or no experience can learn the epée fencing skills in that short of time for next season? Just leave that to Kaidanov and staff.

Known as one of the best fencing coaches in the nation, Kaidanov got a head start on the rest of the nation when he received word that the NCAA had made its decision. Kaidanov and his staff began working on a team at the beginning of this year by spreading the word about tryouts.

"We did (an) announcement on campus about starting this program on the University," Kaidanov said, but explained that there was no set number his staff wanted to keep. "We checked athletic ability, but we do not make a count, it's natural selection -- who can tolerate the training schedule, work load."

When the dust cleared, only eight of the 30-some hopefuls remained for the roster. But along with the prize of making the squad came booby prizes -- 6 a.m. practices and practically no dual-meet bouts for this year.

Someone who could tolerate the 6 a.m. practices, along with 3:30 p.m. practices and the work load was Cecelia Youngblood.

"It's a lot more than we've bargained for," the junior said of the training and work load, but she claimed it's worth it. "It's incredible. We keep learning new things. I just hope to travel next year."

What is incredible is that every member on the squad is in their first year of fencing. And epée fencing is considered more difficult than other styles of fencing because the target for an epée fencer is the entire body.

Throw those two factors into the fire and one would think that the squad might be getting burned trying to pick up the difficult moves, but that is not necessarily the case.

"They've improved a lot," women's captain Olga Chernyak said. "They're up on the level a lot of epée fencers are. They're very dedicated and work hard. They're doing a lot of adjusting."

Adjusting comes along with the territory of trying something new -- especially fencing. Assistant Coach Wes Glon said that many people don't realize what is involved in fencing.

"It is demanding -- physically and mentally," Glon said. However, he said this young squad has enthusiasm. "They love it and are hungry to do more and more. They already know technical actions, but don't know how to use it in bout situations."

But that has to be expected. The squad has only had four competitive dual meets this season -- none count for a record. That's for next year.

Despite all the hardships and difficulties of practicing on the nation's top ranked team, the women's epée squad is handling the pressure quite well. Of course, they have a little help from their friends.

"Everybody tries to make you feel comfortable," freshman fencer Gena Henderson said of her teammates, adding that everyone on her epée squad is very close.

"It's more like we're a family," she said. "We hang out, watch football."

This time next year, people will be watching them, and Glon can't wait.

"I am very anxious to see them in action," Glon said. "They're all anxious to get to the strip and get competition."