Temple University Athletics
Women's Fencing Opens Season at Penn State Open
11.2.08 | Women's Fencing
Nov. 2, 2008
State College,PA - Highlighted by junior Christine Griffith's fourth place finish the women's sabre,the Temple Women's Fencing team opened up the 2008-09 campaign at the Penn State Open over the weekend.
Also making the finals for the Cherry and White were All-American juniors Kristin Howell (6th in women's epee) and Melissa Parker (6th in women's foil).
"This is the first time in my recent memory that Temple placed a fencer in the finals in each weapon." said head coach Nikki Franke.
Epee featured two semi-finalists with freshman Jill Bratton finishing 12th and senior team captain Kaitlyn Uckert 16th. Sophmores Grace Wu and Alyssa Lombardi placed 20th and 22nd respectively.
In foil, freshman Cara Taggersell posted a semi-finalist result placing 14th. Squad leader and senior Sabrina Shapiro finished 31st. New-comer to the team, sophmore Beccy Lehrman placed 38th, while freshmen Nicola Horscroft and Danielle Jones tied for 44th.
Behind Griffith, freshman fencer Kamali Thompson took 18th in the sabre.The sabre squad leader, senior Kristine Jones, placed 19th. Sophmores Audrey Barroso and Samantha Pascarelli finished 20th and 24th respectively.
"The team did exceptionally well in what is traditionally a very difficult tournament." said coach Bradley Baker. "To start off our season with such great performances across the board bodes very well for our future successes as a team."
The Penn State Open, along with the Temple Open [November 15- 16, 2008], is one of the largest individual tournaments with which many programs open their schedule. Of the top 10 teams from last year's NCAA Championships, only Ohio State and St. John's were not represented today.
The Owls return to action on Saturday, November 15th when they host the annual Temple Open.
