The following article was submitted by a fencing team parent.
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, the Bayonne girls and boys fencing teams stormed into the New Jersey Fencing Alliance to face the vaunted Columbia Cougars. Working with a team marred by inconsistency in past years, Bayonne’s new coach has generated enthusiasm in his fencers, most of whom are seniors and freshmen. Unfortunately, enthusiasm alone cannot generate wins.
The Columbia boys’ starting lineup, though amended, still proved formidable. Gordon Rutledge, Harrison Woods, and Jake Thomas swept the first round of saber. Jack Goldberg and Luke Moramarco added two foil victories, while Sam Gomberg, Marcus Jamison, and Simon Pettigrew finished with an epee sweep. Second-round saber subs Matt Rothenberg and Marshall Henderson notched wins, followed by foilist Julian Bowne recording his first varsity win in an exciting 5-4 match. Anshul Vyakarnam and Goldberg completed the sweep, setting up epeeist Jamison for the 14-2 clinch. Then it got interesting.
Since Bayonne regarded any win against Columbia as an important victory, the cheering remained intense. Eli Navlen’s 5-4 epee win to close the second round felt monumental. Third-round saber continued strong for the home team, as sophomore Coltrane Nadler and freshman Michael Wallin joined Harry Woods for the sweep. Foil saw freshmen Jasper Shuetz and Ricky Hankey notch their first varsity wins as well. Third-round epee was epic, with active cheering sections on both sides. Bayonne was stoked as their next fencer gained a 4-3 edge against Josh Abdill, but he rallied for a 5-4 win. In the final bout, freshman Oscar Renda quickly fell behind 2-4. After a timeout, he scored three straight touches for his first varsity win, 5-4. The final score was 21-6.
The Columbia girls were more businesslike, as they prepared for Thursday’s Sweet 16 matchup against Bergen Tech. The regular starting lineup of Blessing Olaode, Celia Accardi, and Natalie Martinez in saber; Sam and Marissa Viqueira, and Camille Pham in foil; and Nina Kambili, Abby Merelman, and Brigid Lynch in epee swept the first round with a 44-7 touch advantage. Freshmen Maya Schnall and Brianna Stellini tallied second-round saber victories, as did sophomores Hanae Garrison and Luz Aguba in foil. This set up sophomore foilist Stephanie Molokwu for her first varsity clinch, a solid 5-2 win at the 14-1 mark. Additional victories by Merelman and freshman Ana Cowie in epee, freshman Sophia Heriveaux and sophomore Sophie Saydah in saber, and freshman Cecelia Banks in foil brought the final score to 19-8.
On Thursday evening, Feb. 5, the boys team traveled to Montclair Kimberly Academy to close out their dual-meet season.
Choosing to rest two of their dual-meet saber starters in anticipation of the Friday meet against Montgomery, they called on Jake Thomas, Matt Rothenberg, and Jared Benskins to face MKA. Former Olympian Bob Cottingham’s son Bobby proved formidable against Thomas on A-strip, but Rothenberg made a gutsy recovery from a 0-3 deficit to win his bout 5-4. Benskins finished first-round saber with a 5-3 victory. The regular foil starters of Tran Soles-Torres, Kiichi Sakai, and Jack Goldberg swept the first round, as did regular epee starters Bryn Hammarberg, Sam Gomberg and Marcus Jamison.
The second round saw an MKA saber sweep knotting the score at 6-6, but both foil and epee squads won two out of three to enter the final round 11-7. Thomas netted a saber win, followed by foilist Sebastian Clarke, setting Soles-Torres up for the clinch at 14-8. Epeeists Simon Pettigrew and Oscar Renda rounded out the Columbia plus column for a 17-10 final score.
