The Penn State fencers' experimental techniques led to four wins this Saturday in the Lion Country Challenge.

Stephanie Eim placed first in women's epee, Non Panchan won men's foil and Heather Brosnan and Wyatt Kasserman swept in saber.

This competition had other advantages besides the award hardware. Fencers could dabble with changes and not suffer negative results. After the cancellation of the Brandeis meet last weekend, the Nittany Lions stayed fresh, focused and hungry for the end of the month.

"We had several good fencers come here," Penn State fencing coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "Women's foil was strong. The epee tournament was good."

Competitors from clubs in the metro areas of the Mid-Atlantic region fenced.

For epee and saber, the men and women combined for part of the tournament. High seeds worked to the top of the bracket and the men took the top spots in the mixed portions of the tourneys.

The Lions had fun. Yet, they still remained focused. Jon Charles had a successful tournament. Charles had extra pep in his step on Saturday. And, it showed. He cruised to the semifinals before meeting teammate Panchan. He responded from the loss to take third place.

"He has all the skills," Panchan said. "There was a little piece missing. He didn't just fence today. He fought today."

Differences between the two are black and white - wins and losses. Saturday, Charles won.

Working on new strategies, Eim and Adam Wiercioch opted to fence with their opposite hands in their epee bout. Wiercioch won a tight 15-13 decision. Wiercioch would later finish second behind Penn State coach Ben Millett.

"We fence together so often," Eim said. "Fencing here, we wanted to have some fun."

Really, Eim did try a different strategy that will come in handy in March for NCAAs. She tried some touches for the lower legs and feet.

It paid off on a few occasions.

In one bout against Nittany Lion J.D. Katsoff, Eim caught him by surprise. Katsoff responded, "Oh no."

"Oh yes," Kaidanov said while laughing. "You asked for it."

Fighting Eim in the women's epee finals, Kristina Viviani had another strong performance.

Viviani steadily improves by the week, providing much needed depth while sophomore Jessie Burke is out.

Burke made an appearance Saturday too, much to the happiness of her teammates.

"It was the first time she was back in the fencing room," Eim said. "It was great that she showed."

"I was really glad to see her," Panchan said. "It was a really good feeling. . . like it completed the team coming back together."

Burke's appearance sparked solid top four finishes. Michael Takagi, Amir Rahimi and Noah Jacobson finished second, third and fourth in men's saber. Meredith Steyer, Stephanie Tam and Jessica Clark finished second through fourth in women's saber. Chris Dickson finished second in men's foil. Marta Grochal gutted out a foot injury to finish second in women's foil. Charlotte Walker finished fourth. Marco Martemucci finished fourth in Men's epee.

Kaidanov's response?

"It was a good workout for the women with the men," Kaidanov said. "We did not waste our time."