Jan. 24, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - This weekend the North Carolina men's fencing team will travel to State College, Pa. and Baltimore, Md. for dual meet competition. On Saturday Penn State is hosting dual meets where the men will face Johns Hopkins, Haverford and Drew. On Sunday Johns Hopkins is hosting dual meets, and the Tar Heels will compete against William & Mary, Stevens Institute of Technology, Yeshiva, Hunter and New Jersey Institute of Technology. North Carolina then travels to Evanston, Ill. for the Northwestern Dual Meets on February 2 and 3.

TarHeelBlue.com sat down with junior foil fencer Alex Grigorenko to discuss the upcoming weekend.

How are you and the team preparing for this weekend's competition?
"Just recently, actually this week we started training at 5 in the morning. We get up at 5 a.m., come here at 6 a.m., have a little practice for an hour, then come in again for regular practice from 3 to 6 p.m., so we're working a lot. We also have personal lessons with coaches where everybody gets to work on the things that they need to improve on, so this is mainly how we've been preparing."

How will you and the team handle this long weekend where you'll be traveling to two different states?
"It's going to be difficult. It's going to be very tough. Even when you compete one day you're just exhausted, and then we'll have to pick up and go somewhere else. It's going to be really tough. I actually haven't made it before so we'll see what happens."

How has the team improved since the beginning of the season?
"Well we've been making a lot smarter decisions on the strip and just supporting each other a lot because we're getting more comfortable with each other and spending more time together. As far as personal, just getting more practice and just overall making smarter decisions about everything."

What are your goals for yourself and for the team as you finish out the season?
"Personally I'm hoping I can make it to NCAA finals. Hopefully that's going to happen. As far as the team goes, we're just hoping to win as many as we can for the rest of the season."

You transferred from Notre Dame. How do you like the atmosphere at North Carolina?
"It's been great so far. This team has been great to me. It's like a second family almost."