Fencing Teams Ignore Glitches On Way To District Victories

By Steven E. Brier

FEB. 5, 2007 -- It was a rocky start at 6 a.m. Sunday when the bus didn’t arrive to pick up the Columbia High School fencing team and coaches and parents scrambled to get the team to the District 3 championship at Wayne Valley High School in Wayne, NJ, but it was the same old finish twelve hours later with the team picking up four first place finishes and two second place wins in the squad competitions as well as a number of medal-winning spots in the individual competition.

The CHS boys team placed first in sabre and epee and second in foil in the squad competitions, led by sabreist Chad Attenborough who went 10-0 in that portion of the tournament. The girls foil and epee squads placed first, but the sabre team came in second in sabre despite the 10-0 performance by Elizabeth Moulthrop.

The district championships were for both teams and individual fencers with squads, qualifying pools and individual bouts taking place on more than 20 strips laid out in two gyms. With epees to the left, sabres to the right and foils down the hall, spectators, coaches and even fencers scrambled to be in the right place at the right time. Spectators at one strip would find themselves jostling for space with spectators – and fencers – at an adjacent strip. As Columbia’s volunteer coach 'Doc' Paulina put it after the tournament ended, “I certainly got my exercise today.”

For those who managed to be where they wanted to be, there was some fancy fencing going on. Very few of the bouts were blowouts, with a number of them going to the wire at 4-4. Practicing for the close bout has made the 4-4 a forte for CHS, and it showed.

“Foil and sabre went undefeated in 4-4 today, and epee was 9 and 3,” Paulina said.

In girls foil, Abby Caparros-Janto, a senior, placed first in the individuals just as she had done in her freshman year. Tiffany Austin-Ginlock, a junior, placed first in the individual girls epee, beating out teammate Magda Usarek-Witek, a senior, who placed second. Kathryn Steck came in second in girls sabre.

In boys foil, Ethan Kresofsky, a senior, placed second in the individuals, as did Russell Valle, a junior, in epee and Sam Veron, a senior, in sabre. Attenborough, a junior, came in fourth in sabre which is good enough to send him along the others along to the next level in the championships.

Twelve hours after starting, the fencers returned to CHS. A little ragged-looking and tired, but clutching a number of plaques, trophies and medals to be squirreled away around town.

Earlier in the week, the CHS boys defeated St. Benedicts 15-12 in a close-fought match. Kresofsky and Shaun Geiger on foil were 3-0 and Valle and Ian Gammon on epee turned in 2-0 performances for the night. The score was 13-10 when Geiger got the 14^th win to put the team over the top.

With the meet so close, few substitutions were made and no budding fencers were able to pick up their first varsity victory. When possible, the coaches try to substitute underclassmen for the experience, a practice that helps the team down the road and leads to a number of wins by younger fencers, such as the first varsity victory freshman Geoffery Marino got in foil in early January.