The No. 1 ranked Penn State fencing team qualified 12 fencers at regionals to compete for their tenth national title in the 2007 NCAA championship this weekend.

The qualifying team members include men's foil fencers freshman Nick Chinman (26-7) and junior Jefferey Chang (46-13), who finished No. 3 at regionals.

Men's epee will be represented by freshman Steffan Launer (35-9) and Arthur Urman (34-14).

Completing the men's team will be Sabre fencers junior Franz Boghicev (27-3) and senior Ian Farr (40-11).

Penn State was only one of three schools to qualify a full team -- St. Johns and Columbia were the other two.

The Nittany Lions competed with about 10-12 schools at Farleigh Dickinson including last year's biggest rival, Harvard, who failed to qualify a full team.

Women's senior captain and three time All-American Sophia Hiss said Harvard did not qualify that many people because their team is weaker than it was last year.

Hiss (37-5), representing the sabre divison, is traveling to nationals for the fourth time in her career.

She placed second at regioanls. Joining Hiss will be sophomore Caitlin Thompson (27-3) who finished first at regionals.

Undefeated freshman Doris Willette (33-0), who also finished first at regionals, will represent women's foil along with senior Tamara Najm (39-6), who will also represent women's foil.

First place regionals finisher, Anastasia Ferdman (53-9), will lead the women's epee team. An All-American in 2006 and third place regionals finisher, senior Case Szarwark (45-4), will also be competing for the epee squad.

The regional competition was tough for many fencers, who are expected to stay at the top of their game the entire day.

"Everything you do matters as much as everything you did a minute ago," Hiss said.

She said the team performed as it expected at the regional competition and has a good shot at winning the national title.

"I think our team is stronger," she said, "We lost a few people that were very good last year, but some strong freshman have added to our team."

At this point in the season, Hiss said the team cannot learn anything new, but can bring its intensity up which is what it has been doing since regionals ended.

"We worked really hard over spring break and feel a lot stronger," she said.

Hiss said it's not just the excellent skill set of each fencer, but the strong team bond that makes Penn State No. 1 in the country.

"We all like each other. There is support for one another and that's definitely important when it comes to competing."

The lions will travel to Drew University in Madison, N.J. this weekend to comepte for the national title at the NCAA fencing championship.