With nothing but bad memories remaining of the 1972-73 season, three Harvard fencers begin competition today for national acclaim in the NCAA Fencing Championships to be held through Saturday at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md.

This year's captain Terry Valenzuela, next year's team leader Eugene White, and IFA finalist Phillipe Bennett will represent the Crimson in the nation-wide competition. Valenzuela will fence sabre, White epee, and Bennett foil.

Over 40 universities will compete in the three-day competition, and Crimson coach Edo Marion said yesterday that he would like to see Harvard finish in the top eight. Last year, despite an All-American performance in epee by Geza Tatrallyay, the Crimson came in a disappointing 11th.

Foiled Again

Tatrallyay finished fourth overall in the epee competition, and Valenzuela, representing the sabre squad, performed fairly well, but did not make the finals. It was the foil competition that undermined the Crimson's chances, as Don Valentine, who had a discouraging season for the Crimson, could not get untracked at all, pulling down the otherwise respectable Harvard showing.

On an individual level, Marion said that Harvard's main goal will be "to have one or two of our fencers make All-American." In the individual competition the top six fencers in each weapon are named national all stars. The top three win first team All-American honors, the second three make up the second team.

Marion was optimistic yesterday about the chances of the Harvard contingent.

"Valenzuela is much more mature this year," he said, "so he should do much better than he did a year ago. With White, it all depends on his state of mind on a particular day. If he starts well, he'll do all right. Bennett is erratic and very unorthodox, but on the basis of his performance in the Easterns. I'm sure he will do well."

In today's competition approximately half of the fencers in Baltimore will be eliminated. There will be two pools in each weapon and at the conclusion of today's action the top half of both pools in each of the three weapons will advance to the finals to be held tomorrow and Saturday.

The finals will be run as a round robin competiton, with each fencer facing each other fencer at some time during the two days of the finals.