This weekend, several of the Penn State individual fencers and squads defended their individual NCAA titles and pushed the Lions into the lead. But as well as the individuals did, it will be the coming two days of competition that will determine the Penn State's fate.

Tom Strzalkowski defended his men's individual sabre crown for the third-straight year. After defeating last year's runner-up, Pennsylvania's George Kalmar, 15-9, Strzalkowski moved to the title bout and beat Yale's Beran Rose, 15-10.

"The confidence and experience kicked in and I won fairly easily this year," Strzalkowski said. "I hope I can carry it over to the team event . . . winning team would mean 10 times more to me."

Strzalkowski wasn't the only dualer to repeat. On Friday, Andy Gearhart climbed to the final round of the men's individual foil competition for the second-straight year, only to fall to Kwame van Leeuwen. The Harvard junior beat Gearhart, 15-10, relegating him to runner-up status for the second straight year.

"My toughest bout came down to the final bout," Gearhart said. "I fenced really well, but I didn't win."

The team competition has been just as exciting. The women's foil team defended its title with an impressive 9-1 victory over Pennsylvania. Olga Chernyak and Olga Kalinovskaya both went undefeated in their bouts, earning Penn State 1,750 points and a solid lead on Saturday.

But the men's foil slowed the dualers down. Yesterday, the squad finished in third place, losing valuable ground to Notre Dame, but still maintaining the lead. Falling to St. John's in the semifinals, Penn State rebounded to beat New York University, 5-4, keeping them in the front. Notre Dame, which won the bout, closed the gap against Penn State to a mere 25 points, as the Lions lead the Fighting Irish 2,625-2,600.

"Overall we fenced really well," Gearhart said. "We had some close bouts."

Such a close score sets the stage for the next two days which will be a tooth-and-nail battle between the two leaders.

Today the women will compete for the individual foil title and the men's sabre team, led by Strzalkowski will try to widen the margin between the Lions and the Irish.

"If we can end up winning . . . we'll be in great shape for the two days competition," Strzalkowski said.

The national championships will end tomorrow with the tournament coming down to the men's epe team competition. The Lions will be led by Ben Millett who finished second to Princeton's Harald Winkmann in the individual championships.