The Buckin' Elks varsity "A" and "B" squads won all of their matches on Saturday, knocking off college competition from Davidson, NC State and Appalachian State as well as a charter school team headed up by Jonesville police officer John Myers.
Elkin's varsity "C" team beat ASU's "B" team and won against the charter school before falling to Davidson.
"Things went our way in every respect," said Elkin coach Walter Triplette, who invited Olympic medalist Tim Morehouse to one of his team's practices last week. "The team is as fired up now as any team I've coached."
Elkin's varsity "A" lineup, which features Brian Rector, Cameron Blackburn, Steve Deck and Brett Pardue, cruised to a 5-0 victory over Davidson and 5-1 decisions against NC State and ASU, avenging a loss to the Mountaineers from last season. All four Elk fencers are back from last year's team.
"Blackburn and Deck were especially smooth and sophisticated in their matches, and Deck and Pardue were undefeated on the day," coach Triplette said. "Elkin's 'B' team showed that our team is deep as well as good, beating everyone they fenced."
The Elks' "B" lineup consists of Bricieda Rodriguez, Grant Justus, Hannah Rector and Abby Triplette. Their win over ASU came by a 5-3 score. They beat NC State 5-0.
Elkin's "C" team featured Daniel Wilson, Matthew Schumak, Catherine Schumak, Sam Motsinger and David Longworth. They edged ASU's "B" team 5-4 and won 5-1 against the charter school competition. Davidson beat Elkin's "C" team 5-1.
"The shocker of the day was a match between Elkin's JV team and App State's 'A' team," Triplette said. "The App State squad had heard that the Elkin junior high and elementary kids were very good, and wanted to see just how good they really were. After all the competition matches were over they requested a friendly match with our youngest fencers, a team of Catherine and Matthew Schumak and Abby Triplett."
The match went back and forth, with the score eventually tied 4-4. The captains of the two teams then stepped forward to decide the outcome.
"Abby Triplette hit the App State fencer in the chest so hard that she broke her sword blade -- and won the match for her team," coach Triplette said.
The fencing season is just starting for the Elks, who will compete several times over the next three to four months before the league championship.
Clarification
Elkin's fencing program is a full varsity sport, as voted on and approved by the Elkin school board.
The only difference between the Elks' fencing team and other school sports like football, basketball, etc. is that the N.C. High School Athletic Association does not sanction a state championship event for fencing.
"The NCHSAA requires at least 40 percent of the schools in North Carolina to field teams before they sanction a championship, but they do recognize the sport as an official high school varsity sport," Elkin coach Walter Triplette said. "From the point of view of our team, it is a drawback not to have the NCHSAA label on our trophy, but on the other side of the coin we get to fence a tough schedule of 3A and 4A schools around the state that we will not be able to play once the NCHSAA takes over."
North Carolina's high school fencing championship currently is sanctioned by a non-profit group, the North Carolina High School Fencing League. Elkin has won the championship trophy several years running.
Elkin fencing match results Saturday * at Elkin
Elkin Varsity "A" 5, Davidson 0
Elkin Varsity "A" 5, Appalachian State 1
Elkin Varsity "A" 5, NC State 1
Davidson 5, NC State 1
Appalachian State 5, NC State 4
Appalachian State 5, Davidson 3
Elkin JV 5, Charter School 1
Appalachian State "B" 5, Charter School 0
Elkin Varsity "C" 5, Charter School 1
Elkin Varsity "B" 5, Appalachian State "B" 3
Elkin Varsity "C" 5, Appalachian State "B" 4
Davidson 5, Elkin Varsity "C" 1
Elkin Varsity "B" 5, NC State 0
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