Twice this weekend two Penn State fencers went head-to-head for a gold medal.

In both bouts, experience won out over youth.

At the 30th annual Garrett Penn State Open held in the White Building, junior captain Alex Weber captured the gold medal by edging freshman teammate Marten Zagunis, 15-14, in the final of the men's sabre, and senior Jessica Burke beat out freshman teammate Katarzyna Trzopek, 15-8, to secure the women's epee title.

For Weber, it was the second consecutive year in which he attained gold at the Open.

For Burke, it was her second epee title at the Open.

The Nittany Lions built upon last year's impressive performance as eight fencers turned in medalist performances Saturday between the foil, epee and saber events.

The Lady Lions just fell short of matching their male teammates as they scored six medal-winning performances Sunday.

Considering that Penn State's task was not to necessarily take first place in every event, but to give its fencers an opportunity to compete against a strong playing field, head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said that he was generally satisfied with the results.

"[The Open] allowed the team to start the season with a good, competitive experience," he said.

While Weber led the men in the sabre event, sophomore All-American Ian Schlaepfer nabbed a fourth-place finish in the foil.

Teammates Christopher Miller (freshman) and Christopher Dickson (junior) and Joe Brown (junior) were right behind Schlaepfer, finishing in the top ten.

Two-time All-American junior Adam Wiercioch recorded a fifth-place finish in the epee, just ahead of former captain Daniel Landgren, who came in sixth.

Though Landgren has used all of his years of eligibility, he can still compete in individual events since he is still an undergraduate at Penn State, according to NCAA rules.

On the women's side of the team, senior Austin O'Neill nearly added a third gold medal for Penn State in the sabre competition.

Though she was in front of Rutgers' Alexis Jemal early, Jemal pulled off the 15-8 victory.

Teammates Heather Brosnan (junior) and Meredith Steyer (junior) came in just after O'Neill, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.

In the women's foil, sophomore Meredith Chin, who won gold at the Temple Open two weeks ago, turned in a seventh-place performance.

The Garrett Penn State Open, always a tough, competitive tournament, gives Kaidanov an early assessment of the team's strengths and weaknesses before it heads to Princeton this coming weekend for its first dual meet this season where it will face the likes of Princeton, New York University and Rutgers.

"[The Open] showed me what we're missing and what we need to work on," Kaidanov said.