No. 4 Fencing Competes at NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Fencing
March 19, 2003
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Columbus, Ohio – The No. 4 fencing team qualified the maximum number of 12 competitors to the NCAA championships. The Buckeye squad travels Thursday-Sunday, March 20-23 to the Cadet Field House on the U.S. Air Force Academy military base in Colorado Springs, Colo.
12 Buckeyes Compete
Advancing for the men are sophomore Brian Gross and senior Spencer Jones in epee, Nathan Weir and Matt Carbone in foil and Adam Crompton and Jason Rogers in sabre. Crompton and Rogers, a 2002 bronze medallist, are ranked Nos. 1 and 3 in the junior men’s sabre national rankings.
For the women, Alexandra Shklar and Sherice Gearhart advanced in epee, Hannah Thompson and Metta Thompson in foil and Louise Bond-Williams, a 2002 silver medallist, and Marguerite Plekhanov in sabre. Hanna and Metta Thompson are ranked Nos. 3 and 4 in the junior women’s foil national rankings. NCAA Breakdown
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.
2002 NCAA’s Revisited
Last year, the Buckeyes qualified 10 competitors to the NCAA championships and placed fourth overall with 140 points. That was the highest finish in five years for Ohio State at the NCAA competition. Penn State claimed the 2002 NCAA title and Ohio State trailed St. John’s (190 points) and Notre Dame (186 points).
Men Claim Title, Women Second
The Buckeyes placed first overall last weekend at the 2003 Midwest Championships in South Bend, Ind. The Buckeyes took the competition with a combined score of 855 points. Notre Dame took second overall and trailed Ohio State by 20 points.
The men’s squad took first with a score of 435 and bested the Fighting Irish by a total of 25 points. Sophomore Jason Rogers stole the competition after placing first in sabre. Leading the way in sabre for the Buckeyes were Adam Crompton (2nd), Kitz Siebert (3rd) and Colin Parker (5th). In foil action, Matt Carbone captured the third spot and Alexander Law came in at No. 5. Brian Gross wrapped up men’s epee with a third place finish.
The women’s team tallied 420 points placing a close second behind Notre Dame with 425. Louise Bond-Williams claimed first in sabre and Marguerite Plekhanov took third. Alexandra Shklar topped women’s epee with a third place finish and Metta Thompson placed fifth in women’s foil.
2003 Midwest Championships
Combined Overall:
No. 1 Ohio State……………855
No. 2 Notre Dame………….835
No. 3 Northwestern………..770
Men’s Overall:
No.1 Ohio State…………….435
No.2 Notre Dame…………..410
No. 3 Northwestern………..385
Women’s Overall:
No. 1 Notre Dame………….425
No.2 Ohio State…………….420
No. 3 Northwestern………..385
Dual Meets wrap up
The No. 4 men’s team finished dual meet competition with an overall record of 21-2. The No.4 women’s squad finished dual meets with a solid 20-2 overall record.
Twins Take First, Second
Twin sisters, Metta and Hanna Thompson placed first and second in the foil competition (146 competitors) at the United States Fencing Association Junior Olympic Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo. Feb. 15.
Buckeyes Nationally Ranked
Freshman Adam Crompton is ranked No. 1 in the latest junior men’s sabre rankings released by U.S. Fencing. Sophomore Jason Rogers is No. 3 in men’s sabre. Twin sisters Hanna and Metta Thompson are No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in the junior women’s foil rankings.
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.
