CHS Fencers Go for Statewide Glory

Note to other teams: be afraid, be very afraid. The Cougar fencers are coming.

This past weekend saw Columbia High School boys and girls fencing teams demonstrate that they are a serious threat to other schools' ambitions in the upcoming Sweet Sixteen Tournament, which determines the eventual state champion.

With 72 total wins at a Jan. 30 contest, the defending state champion CHS boys team won their second consecutive District 3 Championship, edging out Montclair by one win. The District Championship, combined with the boys’ 2nd place finish at the Cetrulo Tournament, will give the Cougars the second seed in the upcoming Sweet Sixteen, which begins on February 9. As a result, the boys will have home field advantage up to the finals.

The boys once again showed their depth and balance by finishing third in foil, sabre and epee. The sabre squad, led by Andrew Kelly on A-strip (9-2), finished with 26 wins and was just one short of second place. Stowe Hammarberg and Nic Stellini shared duties on B-strip and finished the day 7-1 and 2-1, respectively. Connor Thompson and Quinn McCann went 4-1 and 4-2, respectively for the sabre squad on C-strip. The foil squad, led by Brian Kaneshige, who went undefeated for the day at 11-0, finished with 25 wins. Jared LeBron and John Kirk took care of the B-strip for foil and finished 4-2 and 3-2, respectively while Jon Schneider went 8-3 on C-strip. The epee squad, led by Evan Accardi on A-strip (7-4) also finished third, with 21 wins. Max Gould, fencing B-strip went 7-4 while Devon Good and Martin Santos split duties on C-strip going 4-1 and 3-3, respectively. The third- place finishes qualify all three squads to compete at the State Squad Championships, which will be held on February 27 at North Hunterdon High School.

While the first half of the full-day District Championship determined the overall team and squad champions, the second half of the day was dedicated to determining the individual district champions from among the morning's top nine fencers (top 5 A-strip, top 3 B-strip and 1 C-strip). After going 11-0 in the first round, Brian Kaneshige completed his perfect day by going 8-0 in the individual round taking the gold medal in foil. Andrew Kelly lost 5-4 to Ray Cai of Livingston in a fence-off for the gold medal in sabre and took second. In epee, Evan Accardi was edged out for third place by Everett Glenn from Montclair Kimberly finishing fourth. Kaneshige, Kelly and Accardi will compete at the State Individual Championship to be held on March 12 at Rider University.

Despite finishing with 83 wins, the District epee title, and 2nd in both sabre and foil, the girls were edged out by Governor Livingston for the overall District title, and finished in 2nd place.

Led by Haley Hart on A-strip (11-0), the Cougars epee squad finished with 28 wins and a one-win margin over second place Governor Livingston. Alexis Auer, fencing B-strip, went 9-2 while Nicole Mee fenced on C-strip and went 9-2 to complete an outstanding day for the epee squad. The girl’s sabre squad, led by Alex Viqueira on A-strip (9-2) finished with 29 total wins but finished second to Wayne Valley’s undefeated sabre squad. Holly Barszcz and Gemma Roberts dominated on B- and C-strip, respectively, with 10-1 records. The foil squad, led by Rachel Viqueira on A-strip (9-2), finished in second place with 25 wins. Najiyyah Clark went 9-2 on B-strip, while Sarah Hilton fenced on C-strip and finished 7-4. All three squads qualified to compete at the State Squad Championships which will be held on February 26 at North Hunterdon High School.

Six girls qualified to compete for the Individual District Championships on Sunday afternoon: Alexis Auer, Holly Barszcz, Najiyyah Clark, Haley Hart, Rachel Viqueira and Alex Viqueira will represent CHS. Hart won her second consecutive Individual District Championship, winning the gold medal in a fence-off 5-4 against Emily Vassoler of Wayne Valley. Alexis Auer finished in fifth place in the individual epee competition. Rachel Viqueira finished second in the Individual Foil competition while Alex Viqueira finished second in sabre. Barszcz finished just one win back of Alex Viqueira in third place. Auer, Barszcz, Hart, Rachel Viqueira and Alex Viqueira all qualified to compete for the State Individual championship to be held on March 12 at Rider University.

The Cougar girls will begin their quest for a state championship on Tuesday, February 8 against Wayne Valley while the boys will take on Somerville on Wednesday, February 9. Both meets will be held at 6p.m. at The New Jersey Fencing Alliance.