SPORTS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2015
PAGE 17
SPORTS BRIEFS
Kastor to miss remainder of season KASTOR SITTING OUT SEASON
Coach Nikki Franke confirmed last Saturday that former fencing captain Tiki Kastor will not be competing this season for academic reasons. Last season, Kastor helped lead the Owls to an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Fencing Championships. Individually, she finished seventh overall in the meet last season. With a top finish in the NCAA Fencing Championships, Kastor was able to compete at the United States Fencing Association Division I National Championships last April, where she finished in fifth in the Division I women’s sabre competition at the senior national level, Kastor qualified for the 2014 Senior World Championships, in which she went as far as the round of eight in Direct Elimination. She finished in fifth place. The sabre fencer will have one more year of eligibility, Franke said. -Danielle Nelson
OWLS NO. 10 IN RECENT RANKINGS poll.
The fencing team dropped a spot in the CollegeFencing360
The first of three rankings was released last Wednesday, with Temple ranked No. 10 in the nation, one spot shy of its No. 9 ranking from last season. Although the Owls dropped one spot since the last ranking, coach Nikki Franke said she was not surprised. “That was the first poll that came out that season,” Franke said. “So based on who we fenced so far and who other teams had fenced, it was a reasonable ranking. I wasn’t upset about it.” Before the rankings came out, the Owls faced nine teams in their two collegiate meets since the season started. Now, Franke said the rankings will be used as motivation for the team. “We talked as a team saying, ‘If we want to move up, we have to beat teams they ranked ahead of us,’” Franke said. That is what the Owls did on Saturday when they beat No. 6 University of Pennsylvania and No. 9 Northwestern, going undefeated in the first meet they competed in since the release of the ranking. Coach Franke said the next poll will be released in February. -Danielle Nelson
MEN’S TENNIS MAURO NABS NEW TRANSFER
The men’s tennis team has added transfer student Ian Glessing to the 2014-15 roster, a university spokesperson said. Glessing will join the team this semester. Glessing, a junior, is a transfer from Arizona Christian University, where he recorded a 17-7 singles record in his sopho-
HUA ZONG TTN FILE PHOTO
Second-year coach Matt Rhule walks during the Owls’ 2014 training camp. Rhule has gone 8-16 in his first two seasons at the helm.
more season. He is a Scottsdale, Arizona native.
for club members and $15 for the general public. -Andrew Parent -Dalton Balthaser
FOOTBALL RHULE HOSTING SIGNING DAY CELEBRATION
In celebration of the NCAA football national signing day next Wednesday, Feb. 4, the Temple Owls Club will host three separate events celebrating the signing period in Philadelphia, Cherry Hill and Ambler next week. Along with a 6 p.m. dinner, coach Matt Rhule will present a program highlighting the team’s class next Wednesday night at the Pyramid Club in Philadelphia. The club will show the second half of Temple’s men’s basketball game against Central Florida. Rhule will stop at P.J. Whelihan’s in Cherry Hill for lunch next Thursday at 11:30 a.m., while the latter program will take place at Talamore Country Club in Ambler. For both dinner events, Owl Club members will receive a discounted admission price of $20, while the general admission cost is $25. Admission for the lunch event at P.J. Whelihan’s will be $10
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL BUTTS HONORED BY CONFERENCE
Freshman Alliya Butts has been named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week. It was announced Monday. In the Owls’ 83-50 victory against Cincinnati last Tuesday, Butts scored 17 points, grabbed four rebounds and tied a career-high with five assists. In conference play, the young point guard is averaging 14 points per game. Since being inserted into the starting lineup on Dec. 28 against Memphis, Butts has averaged nearly 14 ppg and scored in double figures five times. For the season, Butts is second on the team in scoring average – netting 11.3 ppg, good for No. 20 in the conference, the sixth highest freshman. She also has 42 steals, which leads the team and ranks No. 2 in The American. -Michael Guise
ALLAN BARNES TTN
Junior gymnast Danielle Vahala performs during the team’s meet against Ursinus en route to the squad’s first win by way of a 189.9-189.575 victory against the Bears.
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GYMANSTICS
believes the team’s early season struggles are not due to a lack of talent. “I could probably attest the lower team score to the fact that I think the nerves are getting them a little bit,” Murphy said. “Some of the girls are brand new on these events.” The nerves seem to have settled, though, as the squad all but reached the 190 mark in its most recent meet Saturday at Ursinus in a tight 189.9189.575 victory. Another positive for a team that is still adjusting to its new events has been the balance beam. The Owls scored a total of 48.225 on the beam against Eastern Michigan and Murphy acknowl-
edged the beam has been the Owls best event so floor events at Eastern Michigan and competed far in 2015. in the exhibition heats at Eastern Michigan while Senior Jasmine Johnson, who has competed competing in the vault, beam and floor in the GW for Temple in the vault, floor exercise and balance Invitational. While Postlethwait said she hopes beam events for four seasons, said this team just to compete in all four events someday, there are needs to lighten up somewhat and enjoy itself. other worthy gymnasts on the roster. “We just need to have some fun,” Johnson “Personally I would like to make it in allsaid. “We haven’t really been jokaround but I know that there are girls UP NEXT ing around lately.” that have all the skills, so I know For others, the early- Owls at New Hampshire what I have to do to get there,” season struggles are merely a Postlethwait said. Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. way of working out some of Scheduling four mock meets, the kinks before the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Murphy said, was his way of preparing his team Championships at Yale in late March. for a meet setting before the season, and the nerSophomore Mikaela Postlethwait has been vous tension that can come with competition. working on fine-tuning her status as an all- Seeing a more capable squad in the mock meets around. Postlethwait competed in the beam and and in practices is what Murphy said has pained
him the most through the early going. “My heart more-or-less just breaks for them because I know they can do it,” Murphy said. “They’re going through the motions necessary to be winners.” Postlethwait acknowledged that while the team trained hard in the offseason, it’s almost impossible to simulate a real meet feeling until the season begins in earnest. “I don’t think any of us as a team expected that many falls in the beginning but we’re using it as motivation because we know what we can do,” Postlethwait said. * greg.frank@temple.edu T @g_frank6