Top Filipino fencer Samantha Catantan ruled the foil finals to lead the Penn State Nittany Lion Fencing Team to a three-gold sweep in the women’s division on Day 1 Saturday (Sunday in Manila) of the Garret Penn State Open.
The 20-year old Catantan retained the Garrett Open title with a masterful 15-9 victory over teammate Arianna Proietti.
“Overall, I am very thankful with the way I fenced and that I’m able to do fencing actions I’ve been practicing on,” said Catantan in a statement.
Kateryna Chorniy also took home gold for Penn State women’s epee, alongside Jaclyn Khrol.
Their teammate Ola Strzalkowski took the gold for the Nittany Lions in the sabre action.
“I’d say it’s a good sign to start the season. I was able to figure out things I need to improve and focus on,” added Catantan, who won for the Philippines a gold medal in fencing during the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam.
Catantan is the first homegrown Filipino fencer to earn an athletic scholarship in the US and play in the NCAA.
She hurdled three tough rounds of pooling action to reach the direct eliminations.
“It was really tough because we had to play three rounds of pooling. In the first two rounds I played seven bouts, and in the third round, I played six bouts,” said Catantan.
The third-ranked Catantan made it past the knockout stage after beating Annie Lin of Yale University 15-8 in the round-of-16.
She then outpaced Renee Oymann of Temple University 15-7 in the quarterfinals, and Emme Zhou of Yale University 15-13 in the semifinals.