Rob Charlton Named Interim Head Coach of Wellesley Fencing

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Bethany Ellis, Director of Athletics and Chair of the Department of Physical Education, Recreation, and Athletics (PERA) at Wellesley College has announced the promotion of Rob Charlton to Interim Head Coach of the Wellesley College fencing program.

"Rob has earned the respect of our student-athletes and PERA department members and he is uniquely positioned to succeed in this transition," said Ellis. "We have high expectations for the fencing team and based on his past experience, I believe that Rob will lead this team to great success."

Charlton has been with the Wellesley fencing program since 2002 working primarily with epee fencers in two separate stints alongside former Wellesley head coaches Ariana Klinkov and Gamil Kaliouby. Well respected among his coaching peers, Charlton has twice been honored with the Northeast Fencing Conference (NFC) Coaching Staff of the year while at Wellesley, first during the 2008-09 season and again last season, 2018-19. The honor is bestowed by the coaches and captains of the conference in recognition of excellence in coaching.

"I appreciate the time that I've already spent at Wellesley and I'm excited for this opportunity," said Charlton. "We've taken a lot of positive steps, especially in the last few years and I'm looking forward to continuing to take positive steps. We have a great group of student-athletes, they are talented, hardworking, and I'm excited to start the season."

Last year, Charlton helped the Blue post its strongest ever season in the NFC, earning a share of third place among women's teams in the conference with nine team victories in 12 bouts. Wellesley had a program-best 23-5 record across all competitions in 2018-19, advancing ten fencers to this year's NCAA Regional. The Blue also captured the three-weapon title at this year's New England Intercollegiate Fencing Conference (NEIFC) Championships.

In NFC bouts, sophomore Julia Calventus-Coveney (Barcelona, Spain) was 28-2 in women's epee, and earned first team NFC All-Star honors. At the NEIFC Championships, the Blue epee squad finished as the runner-up, winning 20 of 27 bouts with a +53 touch ratio, as first year Panya Tang (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) finished seventh overall, classmate Sam Wolstenholme-Britt (Cary, N.C.) was sixth and Calventus-Coveney was the gold medalist.

Prior to Wellesley, Charlton was an assistant coach at Tufts University, including the 1998-99 season when Tufts was named the New England Collegiate Fencing Conference Coaching Staff of the year.

Wellesley Athletics strives for excellence at the conference, regional, and national levels, while providing opportunities for students to achieve their potential and learn the values of discipline, leadership, critical thinking, and responsibility to oneself and others.