The Penn State fencing squads achieved their pre-tournament goals this weekend as they served as host to the Garret Open Saturday and yesterday at the White Building. This challenging competition featured a variety of colleges and universities including Ohio State, Notre Dame, Harvard and Rutgers.

Fencing head coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said the goal of this tournament was to give the maximum number of bouts to each fencer, and the team accomplished that.

With the absence of world medal winners Doris Willette and Caitlin Thompson, other fencers in the foil and sabre squads had a chance to step up their level of competition.

"We had a chance to see all the other guys in action," Kaidanov said.

The women's epee squad was led by Penn State's top finisher, freshman Anastasia Ferdman, who earned fourth place. Freshman Keri Byerts followed close behind, earning seventh place in competition that came down to one touch. Women's foil placed one fencer in the top eight; senior Tamara Najm placed No.7 in her first appearance this season. Najm is interning in New York this semester and traveled to Penn State just to compete in the tournament. Najm said she felt strong during the tournament even though it was her first competition against collegiate students since the NCAA Tournament last year.

"It's different than fencing national tournaments," Najm said. "My goal was to make top eight, so I'm glad I did that."

Najm, who was seeded No.8 in the country, went to a world cup in Cuba and other minor tournaments to keep herself in competition mode.

"Tami had a good level of fencing," Kaidanov said. "She did what we expected of her."

Senior Sophia Hiss represented women's sabre, finishing in seventh place.

"Overall, it was a decent performance," Kaidanov said. "There were some disappointments, but it was a tough tournament and every mistake was punished by the opponents."

Kaidanov said the men's squad did a little bit better in this tournament but there is still room to improve.

Men's epee was led by junior Dennis Kraft, who placed No. 4. Men's sabre placed several fencers in top spots. Junior Franz Boghicev came in No. 3, followed by freshman Daniel Bak and senior Axel Reblewski, who came in Nos. 5 and No. 6 respectively. Men's foil finished the strongest with Jeffery Chang's outstanding second place performance.

"Junior Jeff Chang's performance was exceptional," Kaidanov said. "He fenced with fire and desire."

Boghicev said he was a little disappointed with his performance, because he lost to the same fencer last year as he did this weekend. He said the sabre squad did well overall, placing three fencers in the top eight, an improvement from last year.

Sophomore Anne Jackson said this tournament was a good indicator of what the team needs to work on. She said it was focused on individual events, but as the regular season begins, the team will have a different attitude. It will be "a lot more team oriented."