The strongest fencers from more than 25 colleges and universities will unite under the bright lights of the White Building this weekend. The Penn State men's and women's fencing teams will serve as host the Garret Open Saturday and Sunday, beginning each day at 8:30 a.m.

With Columbia not attending, the most challenging teams from around the country will be present this weekend. The lineup includes Notre Dame, Ohio State, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, NYU, Penn, Rutgers, and UNC.

Many of Penn State's best fencers, who have no eligibility but are still students, will be also competing.

Penn State coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said the quality of fencers and schools participating can make this tournament stronger than the NCAA Championships.

Penn State will serve as host of a record 417 fencers this weekend. Because of space constraints in the White building, the coaching staff is concerned with the large number of competitors it will be handling.

"We never had such a huge number of participants," Kaidanov said. "It will be a huge challenge to run it in our facilities."

He said the fencers and staff are doing their best to prepare for the tournament.

The meet will be split into three rounds, and the fencers will have a few chances to advance. Winners will be selected from the last round of competition in which the remaining 16 fencers will participate. Scores earned this weekend will be on an individual basis only and will not count for the teams.

All Penn State fencers will compete in the meet with the exception of Caitlin Thompson and Doris Willette in women's foil, who just finished competing in tournaments overseas.

Junior two-time All-American Franz Boghicev said Penn State will most likely place in the top three.

"We should win most of the weapons, especially men's epee and men's saber," Boghicev said. "And for the women, we should be good in all the weapons."

He said he is looking forward to competing and feels good.

"I can't wait to fence," he said. "I think I should do really well based on my practices."

Boghicev said he thinks new recruit Steffen Launer of Germany, winner of the Junior World Cup and Junior World Championships, will perform well this weekend.

"I would expect him to be in medal range," he said.

Launer has been sick with a fever for about a week and did not attend Monday and Tuesday practices. At Wednesday's practice, he was not able to fence at his usual level.

Boghicev said he expects Launer to have a strong showing this weekend because of his experience.

This meet is the last preseason competition for the fencers. It will begin on Saturday with women's foil, with women's epee and saber following. The men's events on Sunday will follow the same schedule. The meet is expected to conclude around 7 p.m.

"I think our whole team is looking forward to getting the first big challenge and seeing where we are standing right now," Boghicev said.