Fencers Set For NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
March 19, 2002
Columbus, Ohio-The Ohio State fencing team concludes postseason action this weekend when it travels to Madison, N.J. for the 2002 NCAA Fencing Championships. The competition will be held on the campus of Drew University at the Simon Forum and Athletic Center. Ten Buckeyes will represent OSU in a field of 144 fencers at the championship, 24 in each of the six weapons (men’s epee, men’s foil, men’s sabre, women’s epee, women’s foil, women’s sabre). The Buckeyes will be looking to improve upon the eighth place finish from a year ago.
The Championships
The competition will include individual events in each of the six weapons. Fencers will compete in a round-robin of 24 fencers in five-touch bouts. After the round-robin, the top four fencers in each event will fence direct elimination 15-touch bouts for first, second, third and fourth place. Absolute ties for the seeding will be broken as follows: for positions one through three, by a coin toss, for position four, by a fence-off. An institution’s place finish in the championships will be based on points earned by each individual. A team will be awarded one point for each victory by its student-athletes for the duration of the championships.
The Competitors
Two Buckeyes, Jason Rogers (So., Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood) and Louise Bond-Williams (Fr., Gloucestershire, England/Chipping Campden), finished the regular season undefeated in their respected events. Rogers, went 32-0 in men’s sabre and Bond-Williams went 41-0 in women’s sabre. Both are looking to make a lot of noise at the championships this weekend. William Jones (22-5 on the season) and Brian Gross (Fr., Cleveland, Ohio/St. Ignatius), who went 23-8, also will be strong competitors in men’s epee.
All-American’s Alexandra Shklar and Colin Parker will be counted on once again for leadership at the NCAA’s. Shklar was a remarkable 48-3 in women’s epee, helping the women’s squad improve from 7-24 a year ago to 18-3 in 2002. Parker went 27-5 in men’s sabre. Other competitors for the Buckeyes include Nathan Weir (18-12) in men’s foil, Leah Tracy (27-19) in women’s sabre, Metta Thompson (48-5) in women’s foil and Hanna Thompson (48-5) in women’s foil.
Buckeyes Nationally Ranked
The Buckeyes (30-6 overall) are ranked in the top five in the recent United States Fencing Coaches Association poll released March 13. The men (12-3) are ranked fifth in the country and the women (18-3) are fourth. Big Ten foe Penn State is ranked No. 3 in both polls.
Regional Qualifier Recap
The Buckeyes dominated at the Midwest Regional Qualifier with ten different Buckeyes placing in the top five in their events. Those 10 were also recommended to compete at the NCAA Championships in Madison, N.J. for this weekend’s competition.
In men’s sabre, Jason Rogers continued his strong season taking first place with Colin Parker (So., Fayetteville, Ga./Heritage) placing third. Kitz Siebert (So., Lawrence Kan.) placed seventh for the Buckeyes in sabre. In men’s epee Spencer Jones (Jr., Ft. Leonardwood, Mo.) placed fourth just behind Brian Gross who finished third. Ricardo Jimenez (Fr., El Paso, Texas/Cathedral) placed eighth in epee for OSU. Nathan Weir (Jr., Kennewick , Wash.) placed second in foil while teammate Craig Galanter (So., El Paso, Texas/Franklin) placed sixth.
In women’s sabre Louise Bond-Williams captured first place for the Buckeyes with Leah Tracy (Sr., Winnetka, Ill.) placing fourth. Alexandra Shklar (So., Jerusalem, Israel) placed first in women’s epee while Hanna Thompson (Fr., Rochester, N.Y./East) finished second and Metta Thompson (Fr., Rochester, N.Y./East) fourth in foil.
The Coaches
Concluding his third season at Ohio State, head coach Vladimir Nazlymov has seen his team make big strides from a year ago and is looking for his team to make that same kind of improvement during the postseason. He is 87-57 (30-6 this season) at Ohio State and has produced three All-Americans during his time. Nazlymov has turned around a women’s team that was just 7-24 a year ago to an impressive 18-3 record No. 4 national ranking.
Before his arrival at Ohio State, Nazlymov spent eight years as the head coach for the Kansas City, Mo. school district where he developed an Olympic-caliber fencing program. Nazlymov is a three-time Olympic medalist and was named National Coach of the Year in 1999.
Ilgar Mamedov is concluding his second season on the Buckeye staff. He was a member of the Russian National Team for almost two decades. He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (Seoul, 1988, Atlanta, 1996) and competed in four Olympic games. He claimed the world championship in 1989 before winning the silver medal at the 1995 World Championships.
George Abaschidze is in his first season as assistant coach of the Ohio State fencing team. Originally from Georgia, he has lived and coached fencing in the U.S. for more than eight years. He brings valuable skills and experience to share with Nazylmov’s fast improving squad.
Abaschidze was a Russian National Foil Champion numerous times throughout his career. During his tenure in the U.S. he was responsible for creating many successful members of the U.S. National Team during his coaching career.
New York, New York
Sisters Hanna and Metta Thompson are two highly talented freshmen from New York who are doing big things for the Buckeyes. They have been highly instrumental in the resurgence of the women’s program (18-3) that went just 7-24 a year ago. Metta and Hanna got their college careers off to a great start in October by placing first and third respectively in women’s foil at the Remenyik Open at Northwestern University. They continued that success at the first OSU Open with bronze medal finishes in foil. Both have been a steady force for the women’s squad that came up one-point short of knocking off national power Penn State two weeks ago. The identical twins each recorded 48-5 records in their events in 2002. Hanna took third at the Junior Olympic Championships in February while Metta took fifth out of 152 competitors.
Hanna Thompson placed first at the junior nationals this year and third at Senior Nationals in 2000. She was also the alternate for the 2001 Junior World Team. Metta Thompson was a member of the junior and senior team that placed first at the 2000 and 2001 Summer Nationals and an alternate to the 2000 Cadet World Team.
Worldwide Competitors
Jason Rogers (Fr., Los Angeles, Calif./Brentwood) won a gold medal in men’s sabre at the 2001 Junior World Cup in Frascotti, Italy in November. Colin Parker also competed at the competition, placing 30th in sabre.
