Trophies Are Piling Up For Fencing Teams

By Steven E. Brier

JAN. 22, 2007 -- The Columbia High School boys fencing team beat 43 others to win the Cetrulo Tournament, leaving them undefeated for the year and creating a slight problem – they aren’t sure what to do with the enormous trophy, currently propped up in a corner of the team’s temporary home at the New Jersey Fencing Alliance. The win came in the middle of a hot streak with the boys and girls teams winning five meets in 10 days.

“We have a balanced team,” boys coach Daryl White said, discussing the Cetrulo win. “We placed in the top three for each weapon, which no one else did.”

Although Columbia didn’t come in first in any weapon, that balanced attack served well.

In the Cetrulo, each team gets a point for where each weapon places in the tournament, and – like golf – the team with the fewest point wins. With sabre coming in second, the CHS boys got two points. Foil and epee came in third – three points each – for a total of eight points for the CHS team.

A lack of balance on other teams showed. Although Ramapo won sabre, it placed ninth in epee and 13^th in foil for a total of 23 and a distant second-place finish. Third-place Mendham placed 13th in sabre, fifth in epee and seventh in foil for a total of 25. Millburn placed first in epee, but was fifth overall with 28 points – 19 in sabre, eight in foil – and Newark Academy placed first in foil but placed sixth with 34 total points, 25 in sabre and eight in epee. When the night was over, Columbia had a commanding 15 point lead and a huge trophy.

Cetrulo wasn’t the only bright spot for the CHS team. The boys and girls teams remain undefeated, having racked up wins against Morris Hills, Morristown, Montclair Kimberly Academy, Morris Knolls and West Morris Central in the past two weeks.

Against Morris Hills, the girls team won 21-6, with each weapon winning 7 and losing 2 bouts. Sophomore Jordan Freels (sabre) and freshmen Ginevra Czech (foil) and Rebecca Wenocker (epee) all won their first varsity bouts in the meet.

The boys team also won with a score of 21-6, with freshmen Greg Smith (foil) and Benjamin Prentice (epee) collecting their first varsity wins.

A mere two days later, Morristown came to visit. When the night was over Columbia had notched another set of wins, defeating the boys and girls teams by scores of 19-8. The girls team came out hot, with Juliet Turalski, Kathryn Steck and Karin Oxford on sabre, Erin Hynes on foil and Tiffany Austin-Ginlock on epee all going 2-0 for the night and Austin-Ginlock clinching the meet with at win at 14-4.

The boys team also did well against Morristown with six fencers – Chad Attenborough, Sam Veron and David Llanes on sabre, Ethan Kresofsky and Shaun Geiger on foil and Russell Valle on epee – all going 2-0 for the night with Kresofsky giving CHS the win at 14-1.

The next day, Columbia had to do it again, knocking off Montclair Kimberly Academy 18-9 for the girls and 19-8 for the boys. Turalski, Hynes and Elizabeth Moulthrop (sabre) were 2-0 for the night. Sophomore Janna Zimmerman (epee) and freshmen Faizah Muhammad and Carson Volpe on sabre got their first varsity wins. Freshman Sienna Batzli on epee had the clinching win at 14-2.

The boys team had 2-0 efforts from Attenborough, Kresofsky, Geiger, Matt Noll (foil) and Jackson Huemer (epee), with junior James Thomas clinching at 14-5 and freshman Jeffrey Barszcz on sabre getting his first varsity win.

With a four-day respite, the team was able to come on even stronger against Morris Knolls, defeating them 22-5 for the boys and 20-7 for the girls. The boys epee team led the way, going 9-0 for the night. Senior Ian Gammon on epee went 2-0 on the night, with one of those clinching the victory at 14-2. Falcon Reese, recently moved from a substitute to a starting position on foil got his first varsity victory as a starter along with Aaron Weiner and James Hurley on sabre getting their first varsity wins. Other fencers going 2-0 on the night were Attenborough, senior Harrison Friedland on sabre, foilists Geiger and Noll and epeeist Valle.

On the girls team, senior Lissie Couper on sabre turned in a 2-0 performance, clinching the meet at 14-7. Other 2-0 performances came from Hynes, junior Stephanie Schneider on foil and senior Magda Usarek-Witek on epee.

Two days later, the teams traveled to West Morris Central. The different venue and short downtime made little difference, with the boys getting another win at 20-7 and the girls at 18-9. Freshman Matthew DaSilva earned his first varsity victory and Llanes, Kresofsky and Matthew Heffley were 2-0 for the night, and Huemer clinched the win at 14-5.

For the girls, Usarek-Witek’s 2-0 performance clinched the meet at 14-3. Others who went 2-0 for the night were Oxford, Hynes, Austin-Ginlock and junior Michelle Micallef on epee.

Another run like this one and the team will need a new trophy case.