MADISON, N.J. — For the seventh time in eight years, Penn State is on top of the fencing world.

Riding impressive performances all across the board, the fencers overcame an early defeat yesterday to claim the NCAA National Championship at Drew University. The final score was Penn State 195, St. John's 190 and Notre Dame 186.

Yesterday was marked by consistent fencing by the men's team, but the highlight was the incredible performance by sophomore foilist Non Panchan. Panchan finished second at last year's competition, and did the improbable by returning to the finals again yesterday.

This year was different, however, because Panchan was able to claim the individual title. He dominated the round-robin competition, going 21-2, and then moved on to the semifinals, where he easily disposed of Stanford's Steve Gerberman, 15-6. The final was an incredible battle with Jonathan Tiomkin from St. John's, but Panchan took an early lead.

With the title within his grasp, Panchan faltered, drawing a yellow card from the official for a questionable move and giving up multiple touches, allowing Tiomkin back into the match. But ultimately, it was Panchan's day, and he won, 15-13.

Panchan was carried off the fencing strip on the shoulders of his teammates in an emotional display that also exemplified Penn State's overall tournament victory. He was elated and relieved when his match was over, but was subdued after a hectic weekend. He credited his victory to his foil teammates, including freshman Ian Schlaepfer, who finished at No. 8.

The tournament was a four-day event, beginning on Thursday with the women's competition. Despite performing well, the Lady Lions finished their portion of the contest in third place behind St. John's and Notre Dame, with a six-point deficit. It was up to the men's team to make up the difference, and they did.

Assistant coach Wes Glon said that in previous years, it was usually the women pulling the wagon, but this time it was the men who pulled through.

"It really was a great team effort," he said.

In her final collegiate competition, Penn State captain Stephanie Eim had one of the most dominant performances in NCAA fencing history. She finished the round-robin epee competition undefeated, the only fencer ever to do so, and contributed 23 points to Penn State's final score.

Eim easily got to the semi-finals as the No. 1 seed, and advanced to the finals by beating Kate Rudkin from Northwestern, 15-9. In the finals, she struggled in a loss to Kerry Walton of Notre Dame, 15-12. In her four years at Penn State, Eim finished in the top four at NCAA's every time.

Eim is the ultimate teammate for Penn State fencing. Even though she was disappointed that she didn't win gold, the only thing she was concerned about was the team standings.

"After four years at Penn State, I can honestly say that I bleed blue and white," she said.

Head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov was incredibly happy with his team's performance, and relieved that it was finally over.

"It is such a great feeling," he said. "I'm ecstatic."

He said that the team really struggled the first two days, and built quite a deficit. He marked the third day of competition as the turning point, when the men outscored St. John's by 9 points. Kaidanov cited his team's work ethic for the turnaround.

"It's not just the amount of work that produced this result," he said. "It's the quality of the work."