Emmanuil Kaidanov remembers exactly how he felt when he discovered three of his fencers had earned a spot on the Junior National Team that will compete in Catania, Italy in April.

"How would you feel if your sister won the lottery?" the Penn State fencing coach asked, employing one of his patented analogies.

"Happy, proud and hopeful that she would share."

While the accomplishments of the three fencers -- Nicholas Chinman, Daniel Bak and current redshirt Doris Willette -- were the results of hard work and talent rather than chance, the sophomore Nittany Lions have hit the proverbial jackpot.

Competing in the Junior World Championships is a rare opportunity, as the trio will compete with and against the best fencers under the age of 20 in the world.

"I've been dreaming of making the team since I started fencing," Bak said.

"It's pretty much every competitor's dream because, if you make it, every coach knows you and every competitor fears you."

Of the three Penn State qualifiers, Bak had arguably the most surprising entry.

Heading into the Junior Olympics two weeks ago, the final chance to make the national team, he trailed two competitors in the overall junior standings.

He ended up winning the tournament, however, to leapfrog the other competitors and cement his spot in Italy.

"I was shocked," he said. "My parents took me out to dinner, the coaches were shaking my hand. I was a superstar."

Chinman and Willette, on the other hand, are accustomed to international competition.

Chinman has competed in two Junior World Championships and earned a silver medal at the 2005 Cadet World Championships.

Willette, who is taking the year off from collegiate fencing to train for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will be competing in her third junior event. Last year, she led Penn State to its 10th national championship, posted a 33-0 regular-season record and claimed the individual women's foil title as a freshman.

This is the last year for the three to compete in the under-20 event.

"It's my last junior tourney ever," Chinman said.

"I've been to World Championships before, and that was great, but now I wanna do well. That'll be my goal. I haven't done great internationally this year, so I'll just have to go in as prepared as possible."

Preparation will be more difficult for Willette, who has a full schedule of tournaments around the world. However, she hopes competing in such tournaments will keep her sharp enough to eschew traditional training.

While Bak and Chinman don't face a full slate of individual tournaments, they will look to continue their recent success at the NCAA regionals tomorrow, where qualifying fencers for the NCAA championships could make or break the Lions' title run.

And with three of the top junior fencers in the nation, adding to Penn State's already-crowded trophy case shouldn't be a difficult task.

"All I can say is other teams better recruit somebody better than us," Bak said.

"Because we'll be winning championships."