On the night before the 2020 Northwestern University duals, the Temple women’s fencing team filtered out of a restaurant in Chicago and onto the street corner. Before the group started a walk back to the hotel, one of sophomore Cassie Navalta’s teammates delivered news that stopped them in their tracks.
The Temple women’s fencing program had earned its highest ranking in team history by securing the No. 5 spot in the national College Fencing 360 rankings, a feat more satisfying than the meal they just shared.
“Everyone was screaming,” Navalta said with a laugh. “We must’ve looked very funny.”
The Temple fencers had consistently appeared in the top 10, peaking at No. 6 in 2017. No. 5 marked an unprecedented achievement for the team. On that street corner in Chicago, Navalta felt as if she became a part of the program’s history.
But before 1972, that program didn’t have a history. In fact, it didn’t exist. The university only offered the sport to women in the form of a club populated by students enrolled in a fencing class. That changed when 21-year-old public health graduate student and fencing teacher Nikki Franke approached women’s athletic director Barbara Lockhart — “Being very naive,” Franke said. “Absolutely naive.” — and asked her why Temple lacked a bona fide women’s fencing team.