O'Garra in NCAA Fencing Championships
Huntington High School alum Vernon O'Garra is headed to the NCAA Division I fencing championships. The Penn State University senior is 33-17 after finishing ninth in the Mid Atlantic/South regional qualifying tournament.
This marks O'Garra's first appearance in the NCAA championships. A four-year member of the Nittany Lions' varsity squad, he was a reserve on the 2010 national championship team.
A member of Huntington's Class of 2009, O'Garra is one of the most accomplished fencers in Blue Devil history. A five-year varsity letter winner, four-time All-County selection, two-time All Long Island Selection and Suffolk epee champion, O'Garra was Newsday's Male Fencer of the Year in 2009.
"Vernon has the best career record and most wins by an epee fencer in team history," said Alan Kuver, Huntington's head coach. O'Garra compiled a 118-23 with the Blue Devils, winning 80 percent of his epee bouts.
Ranked first in the nation, Penn State is one of six teams to send 11 qualifiers to the national championships. The others include defending champion Ohio State, Columbia, Harvard, St. John's and Stanford. Only two teams, Notre Dame and Princeton qualified the maximum 12 entries this year. The Nittany Lions will look to improve on their fifth place finish at last year's championships.
O'Garra is among the 23 epee fencers that will battle one another in the opening round robin. "Each win will count as a point in the team total," Kuver said. "After the round robin the top four finishers will fence a direct elimination to decide the individual NCAA champion. After the completion of the women's events on Saturday and Sunday a combined team championship will be awarded."
The Huntington alum has won 59 varsity matches at Penn State. This year he had four 3-0 performances against strong teams, including NYU, Columbia, St. John's and Duke.