No. 4 Fencing Travels To Notre Dame Duals, Take On No. 1 Penn State – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
Jan. 30, 2003
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COLUMBUS, Ohio-After a stellar weekend at the Ohio State Dual Meets the No. 4 fencing team will travel to the Notre Dame Dual Meets this weekend in South Bend, Ind. Ohio State will only take part in day one of the competition where they will face No. 1 Penn State at 2 p.m. along with Fullerton, Lawrence, Detroit-Mercy, San Diego and Air Force.
OSU VS. THE COMPETITION
The Buckeyes have already faced Lawrence and Detroit-Mercy once in 2003. Both the men and women defeated Lawrence, 26-1 at the Northwestern Duals Jan. 11-12. The OSU women set back Detroit-Mercy Saturday, 26-1 while the men downed UDM, 27-0.
The Buckeyes last faced Penn State at the 2002 NCAA Championships where OSU finished fourth and Penn State first. The last time the two schools faced each other in dual meet competition was last season at the Penn State Duals. The then-No. 6 OSU women lost by one point to No. 3 Penn State, 14-13, and the then-No. 8 men fell to No. 3 Penn State, 16-11.
THE LINEUP
8:00 a.m. – Round 1
Notre Dame vs. San Diego
Air Force vs. Northwestern
Wayne State vs. Penn State
Ohio State vs. Fullerton
Detroit-Mercy vs. Lawrence
9:30 a.m. – Round 2
Notre Dame vs. Air Force
Northwestern vs. Penn State
Wayne State vs. Fullerton
Ohio State vs. Lawrence
Detroit-Mercy vs. San Diego
11:00 a.m. – Round 3
Notre Dame vs. Penn State
Air Force vs. Fullerton
Northwestern vs. Lawrence
Wayne State vs. San Diego
Ohio State vs. Detroit-Mercy
12:30 p.m. – Round 4
Notre Dame vs. Detroit-Mercy
Air Force vs. Penn State
Northwestern vs. Fullerton
Wayne State vs. Lawrence
Ohio State vs. San Diego
2:00 p.m. – Round 5
Notre Dame vs. Northwestern
Air Force vs. Wayne State
Ohio State vs. Penn State
Detroit-Mercy vs. Fullerton
San Diego vs. Lawrence
3:30 p.m. – Round 5.5
Penn State vs. Fullerton
Air Force vs. Ohio State
BUCKEYES NATIONALLY RANKED
Ohio State remains No. 4 in both the men’s and women’s team poll released by US Fencing Jan. 16. The men’s team, 15-1 on the year, suffered their first defeat of the season Saturday to Notre Dame at the Ohio State Duals. The women’s team continued its winning ways by defeating all of their competition and extending their unblemished record to 17-0.
Sophomore Jason Rogers and freshman Adam Crompton are among the Top 10 nationally in the latest men’s sabre junior national rankings released by U.S. Fencing. Rogers is No. 3 and Crompton No. 7.
Twin sisters Hanna and Metta Thompson are No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in the junior women’s foil rankings.
FOUR REMAIN UNDEFEATED
Four Buckeyes remain unbeaten in dual meet competition this season in men’s sabre: Jason Rogers (15-0), Colin Parker (16-0), Adam Crompton (27-0) and Joshua Isaacs (27-0). Leading the way in men’s foil is Alexander Law who is 29-1 on the year. He is followed closely by Craig Galanter and Matt Carbone who have posted 22-2 and 37-4 records, respectively.
On the women’s side newcomer Sherice Gearhart is leading the way in epee with an impressive 48-3 mark. Junior Alexandra Shklar has only lost one time this season in epee, posting a 44-1 record. In sabre, NCAA silver medallist Louise Bond-Williams is 19-1 while Michelle Lange (20-3), Kristin Rill (20-4) and Marguerite Plekhanov (23-5) help cast a solid sabre team. Twin sisters Hanna Thompson and Metta Thompson are dominating once again in foil, posting identical records of 49-2 in dual meet competition.
BUCKEYES HOST NCAA REGIONAL QUALIFIER
The Ohio State University will play host to the 2003 NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier March 8 to determine who will continue on to the NCAA Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo. March 20-23.
OSU DUALS RECAP
The No. 4 Buckeyes continued its dominating ways this weekend at the Ohio State Dual meets. The women won all 12 matches to improve their overall record to an impressive 17-0. The men won all but one of their matches, going 11-1 on the weekend, falling only to No. 2 Notre Dame, 16-11.
Complete results:
Women (12-0, 17-0 overall)
Ohio State 23, Florida 4
Ohio State 22, Purdue 5
Ohio State 16, Northwestern 11
Ohio State 26, Minnesota 1
Ohio State 26, Case Western 1
Ohio State 15, Notre Dame 12
Ohio State 27, Cleveland State 0
Ohio State 20, Wayne State 7
Ohio State 25, Chicago 2
Ohio State 25, Michigan State 2
Ohio State 26, Detroit-Mercy 1
Ohio State 19, Michigan 8
Men (11-1, 15-1 overall)
Ohio State 22, Florida 5
Ohio State 27, Detroit-Mercy 0
Ohio State 26, Chicago 1
Ohio State 24, Wayne State 3
Ohio State 21, Northwestern 6
Ohio State 27, Cleveland State 0
Ohio State 23, Purdue 4
Ohio State 25, Minnesota 2
Ohio State 26, Case Western 1
Ohio State 24, Michigan State 3
Ohio State 22, Michigan 5
Notre Dame 16, Ohio State 11
THE COACHES
After three seasons at the helm of the program, Vladimir Nazlymov has the Buckeyes headed in the right direction.
Last season proved to be Nazlymov’s best yet. The Buckeyes, 30-6 overall in dual meet competition, garnered 10 NCAA qualifiers, six All-Americans and finished fourth at the NCAA championships, scoring 140 points which nearly doubled their scoring output from 2001.
Gia Abashidze is in his second season as assistant coach of the Ohio State fencing team. Originally from Georgia, he has coached fencing and lived in the U.S. for more than eight years.
Abashidze 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.
Terrence Lasker is in his first year as an assistant coach for the Buckeye fencing program after spending the last two years at the team armorer.
Lasker has a long standing relationship with Nazlymov. Lasker began fencing under Nazlymov when Nazlymov moved to the United States in 1991 in Kansas City, Mo.
He is a 10-time member of the U.S. National Team and is a five-time national champion. Lasker, a native of Kansas City, Mo., captured a bronze medal at the 1994 Cadet World Championships and was a volunteer assistant coach for the Buckeyes during the 1999-00 season. He also was a finalist at the 1999 Senior World Cup in Moscow.
NEW FACILITY
The Steelwood Athletic complex, now the home of Ohio State gymnastics, fencing and wrestling, offers a breath of fresh air for the fencing program.
The complex is complete with its own administrative offices, training room, locker rooms and three private gyms for gymnastics, fencing and wrestling.
The fencing gym one of the largest in the country with more than 7,000 square feet of space and 14 electric practice strips.
NEXT UP
The Buckeyes will return to action next week when they travel to Detroit, Mich. to take part in the Wayne State Duals, Feb 8-9.
