MONROE HIGH FENCERS PUTTING RIVALS EN GARDE.

Byline: Anne Burke Daily News Staff Writer

They wear baggy pants and backward baseball caps during practice, deal with pimples and peach fuzz as much as parries and thrusts, and their record, admits coach Greg Schiller, is, ``uh, not so good.''

Definitely not swashbucklers or snooty preppies from the country club.

But through a combination of hard work, dedication and a little luck, five teen-agers among Monroe High School's ragtag band of first-year competitive fencers are headed for the nationals next month.

``They're scrappy and gutsy. They scare the heck out of me,'' said the Rev. Lawrence Calhoun, fencing coach at the league-leading Chaminade College Preparatory School in West Hills.

About 1,000 fencers are expected to converge June 8-16 in Cincinnati for the United States Fencing Association's national championships and Olympic trials, according to USFA executive director Michael Massik.

Among them will be Monroe junior Eric Kelly, competing in individual saber, and classmates Faiyaz Reza, Juan Mejia, Daniel Galvan and Okalani Nai, in team epee. Fencers use three types of weapons: epee, foil and saber.

``We're going to be competing against the private preppies, so it'll be some harsh competition,'' said the lanky Mejia, at 6-foot-1 one of Schiller's tallest fencers.

While high school fencing programs are on the increase nationwide, Monroe's club is the only one in the cash-strapped Los Angeles Unified School District, according to area fencing aficionados.

``One of the things that tends to prevent fencing programs from catching hold in public high schools is the lack of funding for equipment. It would cost about $175 to $200 to outfit each kid,'' said Southern California league President Ted Katzoff.

Schiller, who says he came to love fencing after ``watching too many Errol Flynn movies as a kid,'' was not deterred by the cost.

Last year, with help from his credit card and cast-off equipment from athletic clubs and friends, Schiller, then a first-year teacher, organized an after-school fencing club at Monroe.

Now, the 25-year-old teacher says he's passing along his passion for a sport that dates to ancient Egypt, and providing an athletic outlet for square-peg teens looking for alternatives to traditional sports like football, basketball

and tennis.

``I like how it's an individual sport. Your own performance dictates how well you do and you don't have to rely on teammates,'' said Monroe fencer Alex Ventura, 17, of North Hills.

For many fencers the club is less about dancing around and waving swords than personal development.

Jackeline Mata, 16, new on campus and the club's only girl on the team, fences to make friends. For bespectacled Nathaniel Shulman, 16, it's a release of energy that eases the effects of his Tourette's syndrome and scoliosis.

The thrice-weekly, 1-1/2-hour practices outside Schiller's biology classroom have helped Giovanni Candia, 17, work off excess pounds.

Then there's Mejia, for whom the attraction is simple.

``I just like poking people,'' he said.

This year, with club membership doubled to about 20 teens, Monroe joined the six-school Southern California High School Fencing League.

The school's competitors include the elite and fine-tuned Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, Norwalk High and San Bernardino County's Victor Valley High. Then there's the formidable Chaminade, which boasts one of the state's best high school fencing programs.

To Schiller's chagrin, Monroe placed dead last in the league this year.

But to his delight came wins in the nationals qualifying events and a noble effort at the Junior Pacific Coast Section championships, when Mejia went to a 14-14 tie-breaker against Chaminade's Isaac Di Ianni.

But Monroe boosters said that the dismal record is nothing to be ashamed of, given the team's youth and lack of money.

Monroe fencers count among their parents a construction worker, a school administrator, and a plumber - not the type of people with money to throw around on private lessons, weapons, padded gloves, wire-mesh masks, nylon knickers and electric jackets that, when touched, activate a light indicating that a fencer has scored a touch.

To make up for their impecunious circumstances, Schiller and the teens hustle and scrounge.

One fencer uses duct tape to keep his foil's plastic tip in place. Those who have uniforms help out those who don't by stripping after a match and passing their garb to a teammate.

Ventura found that $16 baseball knickers are nearly as good as fancy, white fencing knickers.

``We're definitely low-budget,'' conceded Mejia.

To help raise the $2,500 cost of sending team members to the nationals, the teens sold 300 tickets to the Monroe Booster Club's pancake breakfast. The Devonshire Division Community Police Advisory Board, of which Monroe Principal Joan Elam is a member, kicked in $415.

Nobody's claiming that the smart money is on Monroe this year. But down the road, the club may be the team to watch.

``Once they go to (Cincinnati) and get bitten by the real tournament bug, they'll be a real threat next year,'' Calhoun said.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Thomas Pagtolon-an, front, takes on Er ic Kelly during fencing practice at Monroe High School.

(2) Monroe High fencers Thomas Pagtolon-an, left, and Alex Ventura work out.

(3) Fencing team members, from left, Nathaniel Shulman, Jackeline Mata, Eric Kelly and Alex Ventura perform drills at Monroe High.

Phil McCarten/Daily News