The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams had an impressive showing at Temple this weekend as each placed several fencers in top ten ranks, including first place.

Sophomore Anne Jackson battled 66 fencers to take first place in the women's foil division, while Sara Gonzales maintained a top ten finish, coming in at No.8.

The women's foil was a tough competition because it included internationally competitive fencers and a batch of quality Temple fencers.

"I was really excited to get first," Jackson said. "The last bout was a tough bout and I was really glad that I won."

Head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said he expected Jackson to recover this year and do pretty well for the team.

Jackson suffered from a broken angle last fall and wasn't able to compete until spring semester.

She said that the first meet of this season was not as challenging as the return from her injury last year.

"It was more difficult last season, coming back in the second semester," Jackson said. "But I worked really hard over the summer with a coach at home and came back up to where I was before. I feel a lot more confident this year."

Despite being a "warm-up" meet, the Temple Open proved to be a success for the Nittany Lions as they were able to gauge their abilities against top schools, and rank high in the men's and women's squads.

The men's foil squad was headed by Penn State sophomore Alexander Louton who came in first. Junior Sergio Hey-Colon followed Louton, finishing sixth and sophomore Janos Gasparin finished seventh.

The other squads competing this weekend also had strong finishes. The saber fencers placed two women in the top eight. Jessica-Kim Dahn and Stephanie Herbert placed sixth and seventh, respectively, in a competition of 71 fencers. On the men's side, William Anderson placed second out of 82 competitors.

Jackson said the team is "looking really good" and that ranking so many fencers in the top eight is an excellent feat.

Sophomore Megan Luteran placed fifth out of 76 fencers for the epee squad, while the men's epee was led by Junior Dennis Kraft, who took first place.

The fencers will return home this weekend to host the Garret Open at the White Building on Nov. 4 and 5 beginning at 8:30 a.m.

"This weekend is a lot harder than the Temple Open but I still hope to do decently well," Jackson said. "I don't expect to win but I think there is a really good chance that someone on the Penn State team could."