WASHINGTON, D.C. — For Alex Ochocki, it was all about being with the best of the best.
When the junior captain of the Penn State U. fencing team walked onto the White House’s South Lawn Monday evening, he was greeted by lush, well-manicured grass, picturesque picnic tables and a sturdy platform stage that featured a podium with the Presidential Seal.
Ochocki called the scenery “beautiful,” but said he was actually more impressed by something else — an estimated 650 student athletes standing there with him.
“I was just trying to meet as many people as I could,” Ochocki said.
“There’s so many different athletes who have accomplished so much. It [was] cool to be just here with them.”
The Penn State men’s and women’s fencing teams — along with a collection of nearly three dozen other 2009 national champion squads ranging from the Duke men’s lacrosse team to the Fairleigh Dickinson women’s bowling team — were honored Monday by President Obama at NCAA Champions Day.
And, according to Ochocki, the highlight for the Nittany Lions was the chance to mingle with their counterparts from around the country.
“We didn’t really talk sports,” said Ochocki, who, in 2008, became the first true freshman to become a NCAA saber national champion. “We just talked about life, where you’re from, things like that.”
The Lions arrived at the reception about two hours before Obama made his remarks. They spent that time socializing with their peers, trading stories and comparing the NCAA championship rings each athlete sported at the event.
Junior fencer Miles Chamley-Watson even joked that he “talked to a bunch of cute girls.”
“I got a bunch of numbers,” Chamley-Watson said with a grin.
But once the ceremony began, all eyes were on the podium.
“This is the most athletic talent we’ve ever had on the South Lawn,” Obama told the audience, who clapped and cheered every time the president took even the slightest pause.
During the speech, Chamley-Watson stood somewhere in the middle of the crowd of student athletes.
He used his lanky 6-foot-4 frame — that helped him earn All-American status last season — to extend his arm above the crowd and capture the speech on his iPhone.
“It’s just an amazing experience,” Chamley-Watson said.
Penn State Director of Athletics Tim Curley, who accompanied the Lions to the nation’s capital, echoed Chamley-Watson’s sentiment.
He added that being honored by the president should give the athletes some motivation to keep working hard for the upcoming season.
“Anytime you get a ring on your finger, and get a chance to do this, it’s a reward,” Curley said.