Plunkett and Olaode Earn All-American Honorable Mention at Fencing NCAA Championships

Saturday, March 23

Cleveland, Ohio

All Day

Temple University

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Camille Simmons

Plunkett and Olaode Earn All-American Honorable Mention at Fencing NCAA Championships

3.24.19 | Women's Fencing

Photo Gallery Results

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Junior Kerry Plunkett and senior Blessing Olaode finished ninth and 12th in sabre, respectively, to earn All-America honorable mention at the NCAA Fencing Championships. The All-America honor is the first for both athletes.

Meet Results
> Plunkett started strong with wins in her first seven bouts on day one, and was able to win 13 overall to take ninth, her top finish in three years of competing at the national meet.
> In Olaode's first-ever NCAA Championships, she earned 12 victories in 23 round robin bouts to take 12th place among the 24 fencers.
> Junior Kennedy Lovelace had finished seventh a year ago to earn All-America second team honors, but slipped a bit in her second appearance and finished 17th overall. Lovelace's performance was valuable to the team result, and a strong one as she competed in a very difficult field.
> As a team, the Owls placed 11th among 21 women's teams. Columbia took the top spot, followed by Penn State and Notre Dame.

Quotable - Head Coach Dr. Nikki Franke
> "It has been a very good year for us and the Championships were just the icing on the cake. To have two Honorable Mention All-Americans in Kerry and Blessing is fantastic. We are very proud of the job they and Kennedy did and how well they represented Temple University. To finish 11th out of the 21 women's teams competing is great, and we are very happy with their performance against the top fencers from universities across the country."