No. 1 Cougars in state quarters
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The West Morris Central girls fencing team shouldn’t feel bad after falling in the first round of the public state girls tournament.
Nobody else has been able to solve Montgomery High School this year.
The top-seeded Cougars were 19-8 winners over 16th-seeded West Morris on Tuesday to advance to Thursday’s scheduled match against No. 9 Lakeland. It’s a far cry from how it all began.
”This team is unique because this is the fourth year we’ve had a team and these guys that are seniors now, they remember what it was like when we came in last the first year,” said MHS head coach Johanna Snedeker after her team improved to 15-0. “They remember when we improved sophomore year. They remember winning the Skyland last year.”
The Cougars are a much improved team from a year ago when they won the Skyland Conference for the first time.
”That was a very big accomplishment,” Snedeker said. “It was a surprise to everyone as much as us.”
This year’s accomplishments have been even bigger. In addition to crushing a Bernards team that is the third seed for the state tournament, 18-9, for the Skyland title, MHS won the Santelli Tournament and won two of three weapons at districts. They were rewarded for their regular-season and tournament success with the top seed.
”I think it’s a delayed reaction,” Snedeker said. “I don’t think anyone thought we’d be where we are. I knew all season that we had a real special thing going on here. I’m not sure anyone else realized that. I think we were a little underestimated. We’re not anymore.”
Even as defending conference champion, Snedeker said there were doubters. They hadn’t had much competition before Bernards, but the perennially strong program was no match this year.
”People were saying we weren’t going to win,” Snedeker said. “I was pretty confident, but there were all the naysayers. We went in to fence our best and it’s worked for us.”
With a win Thursday, the Cougars would face the winner of No. 4 Northern Highlands and No. 5 West Morris Mendham next week in the state semifinals.
The only remaining boys team, West Windsor-Plainsboro South, was eliminated in the quarterfinals, 15-12, by Bernards on Wednesday.
”I think at this point, no matter what happens, we’ve had an amazing season,” said Snedeker, whose Cougars will fence West Windsor-Plainsboro North today. “From here on in, we’re going one meet at a time, one touch at a time. We’re going to give it our best. It’s just been an amazing year.”
For that, Snedeker credits her senior leadership. Anjali Ramaswamy was a district champ in sabre and 2-0 against West Morris Central. Ambika Singh is the top junior foilist in the country and was unbeaten against West Morris Central in her only bout. Lauren DeLucia, a senior who won the district crown in epee, was 2-0 against West Morris.
”I have strength in all three weapons,” Snedeker said. “Most teams have a good sabre, epee or foil. To have strong leaders on all three weapons is pretty unusual.
”Ambika is No. 1 in the United States for foil. She supersedes everybody. Lauren and Anjali were No. 1 in their district. Having the Santelli win was huge. Taking two first place for squads was amazing. Anything from here on out is icing on the cake.”
Behind them is a strong supporting cast. Against West Morris, Laura Resnick was 2-0 and Emily Gartenberg and Emma Florentine won individual sabre bouts. In foil, Alanna Liao was 2-0 and Juliet Job won her lone bout. In epee, Ting Liu was 2-0, Elizabeth Stark, Sarah Caputo and Kirsten Brendel were all winners of their individual bouts.
”My kids are beginners with a few exceptions,” Snedeker said. “They have watched my leaders. My leadership is key. They’ve watched Ambika, they’ve watched Lauren, they’ve watched Anjali. They’ve seen some of the best fencers in the state. They’re looking to emulate that. They want to fence like Ambika, like Lauren, like Anjali.
”They work really hard in practice to be like that. They have this excellent visual image of what fencing is supposed to be like. I have a lot more depth in my program than anyone realizes. I can put any one of them out there any day.”
The Cougars aren’t allowing their success to get to their heads. There has been no talk of winning a state title.
”At our practice today, we’re not going to talk about states,” Snedeker said Wednesday. “We’re going to talk about how to improve our skills, how can we get better, how can we sharpen up and get better footwork, etc.”
MHS has tried to treat every match — state or regular season — the same way. The Cougars aren’t taking anything for granted, even with an unbeaten mark.
”We have not gone into any match confident,” Snedeker said. “We go in ready to fence hard. That’s what we’ll continue to do. We fence every team like they’re No. 1 in the state.”
The approach is how the Cougars hope to remain No. 1.