Franke’s fencers eye Top Five spot

After defeating No. 9 Penn and then placing three finalists at the North American Cup, coach Nikki Franke predicts a return to the Top 5 for her club.

Temple has a nationally recognized powerhouse on Main Campus. It’s not named the men’s basketball team, and its coach’s name isn’t Fran Dunphy.

Coach Nikki Franke has led the fencing team to national rankings in the past few seasons, and when the first national polls for 2010 are released next week, she said she is almost certain a Top 10 ranking is in store for Temple again.

“We have a program that is more than reputable,” the Hall of Fame coach said. “I don’t think we’re in the Top Five yet, but we can be one of those teams soon.”

Fresh off the Philadelphia Invitational – where the Owls defeated No. 9 Penn for the first time in four years and fell by just five points to last year’s No. 7-ranked team, Northwestern – the Owls headed out to San Jose, Calif., this past weekend for the North American Cup, a national singles tournament that featured some of the best North American fencers.

Temple placed finalists in all three categories – the epee, sabre and foil. Sophomore Jill Bratton placed sixth in the epee and sophomore Alyssa Lomuscio finished eighth in the foil. But sophomore Kamali Thompson’s star shined brightest. The sabre specialist claimed fifth place and turned heads doing so.

“In this tournament, to make the Top 32 is significant and is an excellent result,” Franke said. “We are very excited about these results, and coupled with our team victories last weekend against Penn, Sacred Heart and Farleigh Dickinson, it only looks like good things are coming. [Each fencer also posted a winning record individually in the Philadelphia Invitational].”

Franke is in her 38th season as the director of the fencing program. In that time, she has compiled a more than impressive record of 588-150-1 (this year, she is 4-1 so far).

The sport of fencing may be overlooked by some on Main Campus, but the Owls have a program with a huge reputation, and Franke said she wants to make that known.

“These girls work hard, and they have the support from our great administration, and it’d be great to get more recognition from the students and faculty,” Franke said.

Seniors Kristin Howell (epee) and Melissa Parker (foil) have already earned recognition through previous All-American status and a combined record of 66-24 during their three years. Now, Franke will try to turn them and the rest of her team into NCAA champions. She said she would even like to produce an Olympian or two if she can, as Franke herself competed in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.

“We prepare the girls for that kind of thing,” Franke said. “It’s something that I would love to have happen, but the national groups they get into after Temple are a good thing, too. We’ve really had some people who could have been Olympic fencers.”

Franke just signed two fencers to National Letters of Intent who could potentially be her first to go for the gold. Epiphany Georges of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Tasia Ford of West Sand Lake, N.Y., are two promising young fencers who caught the eye of the Hall of Famer.

Temple cannot afford to bask in its California glory for too long. The Owls will get right back to work to prepare for a multi-meet that will include the Penn State Nittany Lions and then the challenging Duke Invitational.

Christian Audesirk can be reached at christian.audesirk@temple.edu.

Fencers caught off-garde

Senior Kristin Howell finished seventh in épée in a field of 128 fencers at the U.S. Fencing North American Cup this weekend. No other fencer in any of the other events placed higher than 13th.

The fencing team traveled across the state to Pittsburgh this past weekend to compete in the U.S. Fencing North American Cup, a showcase of the nation’s best in the sport.

“It was something that we were looking forward to,” coach Nikki Franke said. “This is the strongest competition you can have, and this is the level we want to be fencing on.”

The Owls had several fencers compete in the three events – sabre, épée and foil – during the weekend, but the team’s lone finalist was senior Kristin Howell in the épée. Howell finished seventh overall in a field of 128 fencers. Sophomore Jill Bratton and junior Grace Wu also competed in the épée and placed 62nd and 65th, respectively, in the event.

Franke said some team members performed very well, while others are still looking to improve. Overall, she characterized the event as “an opportunity for [the team] to learn some things that will help us as the season progresses.”

In addition to Howell, sophomore Kamali Thompson also left Pittsburgh with a strong performance, as she competed in the sabre and finished 13th in a field of 62. Thompson was defeated by Columbia University freshman Emily Jacobson, the eventual champion.

“That is a very strong result in a very strong field,” Franke said.

Senior Christie Griffith and junior Audrey Barroso also competed in the sabre, finishing 44th and 52nd, respectively.

The Owls had three members compete in the foil. Sophomore Alyssa Lomuscio had the team’s best finish in the weapon with a 28th-place finish in the 93-fencer field. Freshman Mikayla Varadi finished 40th overall, while senior Melissa Parker finished 46th.

Franke described the tournament’s results “as a typical bell curve” – some participants competed and performed very well, others did not, and the majority were somewhere in the middle.

The Owls return to action Jan. 9 for the Philadelphia Invitational, which will be held at the University of Pennsylvania.

Raymond Boyd can be reached at raymond.boyd@temple.edu.

Fencing posts Top 3 finishes

Five fencers recorded Top 3 finishes, including Alyssa Lomuscio, who claimed the foil title.

The fencing team put the competition on notice at this year’s 30th annual Temple Fencing Open Saturday and Sunday at McGonigle Hall.

More than 600 fencers from 35 schools competed in the largest individual collegiate fencing meet in the nation, and the Owls placed five fencers in the Top 3 in all three types of weapons: the foil, epee and sabre.

Sophomore Alyssa Lomuscio won the foil title, beating out teammate and three-time All-American senior Melissa Parker.

In the epee, junior Grace Wu tied for third place with senior Kristin Howell, another All-American.
Sophomore Kamali Thompson took third for the Owls in the sabre.

Last year’s fencing squad finished eighth in the NCAA Tournament. Hall-of-Fame coach Nikki Franke, who is entering her 38th season at Temple, said the Temple Open marked a good start to the 2009-10 season.

“We are really looking forward to the season,” Franke said. “We have a deep team this year with a good mix of experienced players and new people on the team, who are working together very well. We expect good things.”

Howell expressed the team’s goals more frankly.

“We want to make Top 5 in the NCAA coach’s poll,” she said.

The Owls will certainly have that chance, as they boast one of the toughest schedules in the nation – they face seven of the Top 10 teams in the country in their upcoming meets.

Better competition means better results, and that is just what Franke said she wants.

“I think [the tough schedule] is going to help us,” Franke said. “We did a good job scheduling by being able to fence the best schools. We need strong competition to know what we need to do and where we stand. It’ll be a challenging season.”

To prepare for the season, the Owls have been practicing three hours a day every day and working on conditioning and weight training along with skill development with their respective weapons.

“Good athletes are conditioned athletes,” Franke said.

“The first hour, we do cardio and stretching either on the track or on machines,” Howell added. “The second hour, we do fencing-specific work drills, and the last hour, we fence against each other. The last half hour of practice, we go to the weight room.”

The Owls will put that preparation into practice in their next tournament Friday in Kansas City, Mo.

“I was pleased with the results [at the Temple Open],” Franke said. “We had finalists in every weapon. It is important for us to see the kind of strength we have this early in the season.”

Matthew Tumasz can be reached at matthew.tumasz@temple.edu.

Eighth-place finish at NCAAs wraps up solid campaign

Once again, the fencing team ended its season on a high note.

The Owls placed eighth in the NCAA Championships last weekend in State College, Pa., as both junior epee Kristin Howell and junior foil Melissa Parker received All-American honorable mentions.

Because Temple doesn’t have a men’s fencing team, it finished 13th overall, as the scores for the men’s and women’s teams are combined.

Still, coach Nikki Franke was satisfied.

“Coach Baker and I are very pleased with how the team performed this year and how we did in these postseason tournaments,” Franke said. “First, we had a 22-7 season record. Next, we won the NIFWAs. Then, we had the maximum number of fencers qualify for the Regional Championships with nine making the finals.”

But it was juniors who the led the charge.

Both Howell and Parker placed 10th in the NCAAs in their respective competitions. Sophomore epee Grace Woo placed 15th, while freshman sabre Kamali Thompson finished 16th and sophomore sabre Audrey Barroso placed 18th.

The Owls, who entered the competition ranked No. 9 in the latest USFCA Coaches Poll, sent five fencers to the NCAAs, which is something Franke is quite proud of.

“We are very excited to have five out of a possible six fencers competing,” she said. “This ties a Temple record for the most NCAA qualifiers.”

That involved Parker and the other competitors going up against the best 23 fencers in each individual competition over a two-day span. The host Nittany Lions took home the crown, while Notre Dame finished second.

“It’s a tremendously strong tournament and two long days of competition against some of the strongest fencers in the country,” Franke said.

Howell, who became the first epee All-American in Temple history, finished 13-10. Parker, who is a two-time All-American, went 12-12. Woo went 9-14, Thompson 8-15, and Barroso 7-16, to round out the lineup.

The Owls’ roster features just three seniors in sabre Kristine Jones, foil Sabrina Shapiro, and epee Kaitlyn Uckert.

The young will team will return most of its players next year.

Joe Polinsky can be reached at joe.polinsky@temple.edu.

Franke ready for Open

The fencing team was not always the powerhouse it is today.

At one point, it was just a club team.

Then, it was an up-and-coming program.

Now, under the direction of legendary coach Nikki Franke, it is one of the 10 best teams in the country.
“I’ve just got great support, building from nothing to becoming a Top 10 team,” Franke said. “Before, there was just the club.”

Franke, who has been the backbone of the program for its 37-year run, began fencing during her senior year when a program opened up at her high school.

“I took to it, you know,” she said. “I really enjoyed doing it and decided to continue in college.”
She went on to attend City University of New York at Brooklyn College in Brooklyn, N.Y., where there was also a program.

“That’s when I started getting serious,” Franke said.

After honing her skills in New York, she made the trip down to Philadelphia and enrolled in Temple’s graduate program for public health, while simultaneously creating the fencing program as it is known today.

“The first team was all beginners. No one had fenced before,” Franke said. “They were all inexperienced. There were no scholarships. There was no recruiting.”

Nowadays, things are much different.

The Owls get players from all over the country to come to North Philadelphia and fence.
“We get girls from California, girls from Texas, coming here for the fencing program,” Franke said, “and the university as well.”

That has all been possible due to the help Franke and the fencing program have received from Temple, which she says has been helpful to the program, despite fencing’s status as a non-revenue sport.

“Over time, we’ve received a tremendous amount of support from the athletic department and university administration,” she said, “not only to start our program but to move our program into a national level.”

Franke, who was selected to be a part of the U.S. Olympic fencing team twice, in 1976 and 1980, has a long and storied career in fencing. Despite those accolades, she is never content.

“One is never satisfied,” she said. “I mean, we’re going in the right direction. We have a very strong program. We’re a top 10 team, and we’ve been one for seven years.”

So it comes as no surprise that she’s always looking to do better.

“Our goal is to be a top 5 team,” Franke said. “That’s the direction we want to go in. We have a fairly young squad this year, so we’ll see what happens.”

UP NEXT: TEMPLE OPEN
Coach Franke and the fencing team will host the Temple Open, collegiate fencing’s largest individual tournament, at McGonigle Hall on Saturday and Sunday.

Fencers from Massachusetts, Indiana and Florida will travel to campus with high hopes.

It is one of the only times the fencing team, which is nationally ranked among the top 10, will be competing at home.

“We see ourselves as being very competitive among the other top 10 teams in the country right now,” senior Kaitlyn Uckert said.

Out of the 17 fencers, 11 are returning from last season, giving the team four seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and five freshmen.

“We tend to do a lot of substitutions,” assistant coach Brad Baker said.

“Everyone gets playing time,” Uckert added.

Mike Podlogar can be reached at michael.podlogar@temple.edu.

Fencer honored

After a 27-10 individual record, a second place finish in the U.S. Fencing Junior Olympics, the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Regionals in the epee competition, seventh in the NCAA Championships, and becoming Temple’s first epee All-American, sophomore Kristin Howell can add another honor to the list.

Howell was named Female Student Athlete of the Year at the sixth-annual Breakfast of Champions on April 23 for her role in leading the Temple women’s fencing team to a 24-6 overall record and No. 8 ranking in the nation.

“This is such a huge honor, especially for me being a sophomore.” Howell said about the award. “The only thing I can really do is continue to work hard and do my best to have an equally good, or even better, season next year.”

There were eight nominees up for the award. The criteria to win included a combination of academic and athletic performance.

Howell not only excelled in meets, but she also got it done in the classroom, posting a 3.06 cumulative grade point average as an undeclared university studies major.

At the Breakfast of Champions, she and fellow sophomore Melissa Parker were honored for achieving All-American status for 2007-2008. Parker became the Owls’ first second-team All-American since Lisa Honig in 1994.

“Making All-American this season was exhilarating” Howell said. “Last season, I narrowly missed the championships, so making it this year and doing so well [felt good].”

Howell, Parker, co-captain Christie Griffith and fellow epee player Grace Wu were recognized for participating in the NCAA Tournament, an event in which Howell placed ninth.

The Penn State Multi-Meet on January 26 was also a highlight of Howell’s season. Not only did Temple have a perfect 4-0 record during the meet, defeating North Carolina, Haverford, and Drew, but the Owls also knocked off the defending NCAA champions, Penn State, 14-13.

“We hadn’t beaten Penn State for years, so that was a great moment.” Howell said. “We fought so hard and we succeeded. I will never forget that day.”

Assistant coach Bradley Baker said the win proved to the team that they can beat anyone in the country with a little effort and focus.

With the award, Howell and the rest of the fencing team look forward to the upcoming 2008-2009 season.

Joe Polinsky can be reached at jpolinsky@temple.edu.

Strong bodies, strong minds: The mentality of success

Sometime in the fall, prior to the start of its five-month-long season, the fencing team sat down and discussed its goals for the upcoming campaign with Rolf Wagschal, M.A., a doctoral candidate in Temple’s kinesiology department.

With Wagschal, who has a sport psychology concentration, and their coaches’ help, the 19-member squad copiously outlined the specific objectives they wanted to complete this season: Rank among the top five collegiate teams in the nation, send as many Owls as possible to the NCAA Regionals and, from there, qualify a maximum-six fencers for the NCAA Championships.

“It gave us something specific to work towards,” sophomore Christie Griffith said. “It gave us motivation.”

Incorporating Wagschal into its pre-season, goal-setting session isn’t anything new for the Owls. It’s something that 35-year coach Nikki Franke has done for several seasons.
Except this time, nearly every goal was accomplished.

The Owls, who at 24-6, finished eighth in the United States Fencing Coaches Association Women’s Fencing Coaches Poll, sent a maximum 12 fencers – out of 16 qualifiers – to the NCAA Mid-Atlantic/South Regionals in February. Four Owls were selected to participate in last week’s NCAA Championships, where Temple finished ninth out of 23 teams at the two-day Columbus, Ohio competition.

At the championships, sophomore Melissa Parker, a second-team All-American, finished seventh in the foil, while her teammate, fellow sophomore Kristin Howell, an honorable mention All-American, also registered a top 10 finish, placing ninth in the epee. Griffith and freshman Grace Wu finished 23rd and 19th in the sabre and epee competitions, respectively.

The origin of the Owls’ collective and individual successes can be traced to that pre-season meeting with Wagschal, who also worked with the squad throughout the regular season.

“When you reach a very high level of competition the difference between people is very small,” said Wagschal, who is in his third season working with the team. “Being able to maintain a daily regimen along with mentally training yourself for certain situations so you know how to react allows you to perform at your best.”

Franke said “everyone finds it helpful since fencing is not only a team sport but also an individual sport.”

“Each fencer has something to work on,” she said. “For some, it’s being able to concentrate and keeping distractions out.”

The emphasis on mental preparation helped Howell reach the NCAA Championships this season after she just missed qualifying for the event in her freshman year.
“This season, I just really matured,” Howell said.

A part of Howell’s maturation was recognizing the advanced skill level of epeeists at the final competition.

“At the championships, you can’t expect anything,” Howell said. “You have to work hard for every single touch.”

In her second NCAA Championship appearance, Parker, the first Temple fencer to be named second-team All-American since 1994, knew exactly what to expect. She won 16 of her 23 matches, scoring 94 touches on her opponents, while taking only 70 in return.

“Melissa is a very focused, very hard-working young lady,” Franke said. “She really came into this tournament knowing what she needed to do to perform well.”

Griffith, another sophomore who qualified for the championships last year, is one of seven second-year fencers on the team. The squad’s freshman core is led by Wu, who said her reaction to her NCAA Championship bid was “awe.”

The Beaverton, Ore.-native represents just one of many states on the Owls roster, which includes fencers from Georgia, California, Texas and Washington.

“The fencing community is actually quite small,” Wu said. “When you go to competitions, you meet coaches from all over the country. I met Nikki and really bonded with her.”
Although Wu built a rapport with Franke, she directly works with assistant coach Bradley Baker, who instructs the team’s epees and sabres.

Baker, in his fourth year with the Owls, was previously the coach of the Massachusetts club fencing team where, during his tenure, he managed to double the size of the roster and win the 2002 Coach of the Year award from the Northeast Fencing Conference.

“He is really very approachable and willing to work with the girls,” Franke said. “He works very hard. He’s really fit into our program and our philosophy.”

The philosophy Franke has taught for more than three decades is one of supporting one another. Recruits from across the country recognize the team’s success, respect the program and buy into the team-oriented philosophy, she said.

It doesn’t seem to be a hard sell.

During Franke’s tenure, the team hasn’t had a losing season since 1976. The Owls have compiled a 519-113 record in the past three decades.

Franke, the first and only fencing coach in the program’s history and a four-time USFCA Women’s Fencing Coach of the Year recipient, has a 542-144-1 record overall.

“When I first started, we were able to bring students out of the classrooms and we had walk-ons,” Franke said. “The level of fencing has changed and has gotten so much stronger.”
But so has Franke’s teams.

A perennial Top 10-caliber squad, the Owls improved upon last year’s 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Although that wasn’t specifically one of the pre-season goals that the Owls outlined with Wagschal, it was still an accomplishment that Franke and the rest of the team could take pride in.
“Their success really comes down to them,” Wagschal said.  “I just try to be there to help prepare them. If what I do helps, outstanding. I view myself basically as a facilitator.”
Wagschal should have the opportunity to work with the majority of the squad again.

With only four seniors leaving (Brianna Ferrara, Samantha Myles, Marla Nacey and Kristine Jones), the Owls have lots of “potential” for the future, Franke said.
And her fencers agreed.

“I think we’re going to keep breaking records,” Griffith said. “I just want to keep breaking records and I think that the team will do that.”

Tyson McCloud can be reached at tyson@temple.edu.