WEST WINDSOR: Standouts highlight inexperienced South

Fencing team looks to leaders

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   The West Windsor-Plainsboro South fencing teams know that their opening weekend is not an indication of things to come.
   The Pirate boys and girls were each swept in a quad meet to start the year, but Montclair, Livingston and Columbia are some of the top teams in the entire state.
   ”The pieces we expected to do well did pretty well,” said Pirates head coach Ed Chang. “Kristen Kemnitzer did pretty well. In boys sabre, Jerry (Xu), did well. He was injured last year and is back. And we have a new freshman sabre, Stefano Lucchetti. He is pretty good. He fences internationally, I think for Argentina. His dad is Marco Lucchetti, who runs Lucchetti fencing in Princeton. He’s getting acclimated to high school fencing and growing closer to the team.”
   The Pirates team got a taste for what is out there in the state this year. They will run up against good teams all season, and a tough opener helps to motivate them to work harder in practice.
   ”It’s a tough way to start, but it makes them aware of where they are as a team,” Chang said. “We talked about expectations the other day. If we want to do well, that’s who we have to fence.
   ”It gives us a losing record, but overall it’s a better learning experience than anything else. It’s good to know what the competition is like. We’re hoping they can build on their expectations.”
   The Pirates know it won’t be an easy year. They are still recovering from graduating several top fencers.
   ”The boys are still in a rebuilding stage,” Chang said. “We lost some big pieces, and some of the guys are seniors this year, so they may not be as committed to fencing. But we got some good new fencers which will help.”
   Through the early going, in boys epee Anthony D’Antuono has been fencing A strip, Charles Zhou has been B strip and Evan Hughes is C strip. In boys sabre, it’s Jerry Xu on A strip, Stefano Lucchetti is B strip and Sam Lorenz is C strip. The sabre team is one of the most talented in the state.
   ”Jerry is at a B ranking now,” Chang said. “Stefano came in with an A ranking. Sam is our C strip, and he’s been consistent. He is strong, he just doesn’t compete at the national or international level like the other two.”
   In boys foil, it’s Winston Leung on A strip, Bryce Mayor on B strip and Jason Xie on C strip.
   ”The girls team is unfortunately rebuilding as well,” Chang said. “We lost Sharon (Gao) and Becky (Shi) from foil. Sharon was someone they could look up to and rely on to be consistently strong. We’re looking to Kristen and the girls sabre squad with Dana and Jen to be the binding force that Sharon was.”
   In girls epee, Adrienne Cardulla is A strip, Rachel Landingin is C strip and Sahitya Hari is C strip. In girls sabre, it’s Dana Kong on A strip, Jen Ling on B strip and Roxana Mitrut on C strip. They are the deepest of the squads.
   ”Roxi was C last year,” Chang said. “She’s pretty consistent. She has the potential to be good too, but Dana and Jen have progressed more than her.”
   Kristen Kemnitzer is the A strip fencer in girls foil, Melissa Mischell is B strip and Cathy Chi is C strip.”Girls sabre, we expected to do well, but our starting A strip, Dana Kong, had pneumonia and couldn’t fence in the first one,” Chang said. “Jen Ling, she won just about all her bouts. She’s going to be B, but she did A. We expect them to do well as long as they stay healthy.
   ”Dana and Jen have been fencing competitively at the national level over the summer. They really got their levels up. We expect them to do really well. We haven’t seen them at their best yet. Dana has been sick and Jen has been at a different spot than she’ll be. Hopefully we’ll see it by Santelli.”
   Also competing for spots in the Pirates lineups this season are: Shuning Chen, Joseph Dashevsky, Priya Dhond, Abhinav Girish, Thomas Grzywacz, Bethany Harris, Mark Khusidman, Kai Kiernan, Harington Lee, Daniel Mixson, Christopher Ng, Mallika Ramachandran, Lachlin Robertson, Keve Sandor, Jonathan Snyder, Christine Strange, Mahima Sukumar and Brandon Wang. They have a tall task in living up to being one of the better new programs.
   ”There are a lot of kids we’re just getting to know,” Chang said. “If they put in the time and get experience, they could do well. It’s a matter of putting in the time. I see a lot of potential. We’ll see what happens down the line.”
   The opening opponents make it hard to gauge the possibilities for this year’s Pirates. WW-P South will have its challenges ahead, but has the chance to grow into a competitive team that will set itself up for a big future.
   ”I think as a team, we may not make it as far as we have in the past,” Chang said. “We have made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the past. We may have some strong squads and strong individuals. The squads we look to be strongest are girls sabre and boys sabre and maybe girls foil if they get it all together.
   ”If we can get all the team together and get some epxerience, maybe the team will surprise us.”