Raiders top epeeist finishes year unbeaten
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Hun School fencing teams got the big finish they were hoping for at the state prep championships last Wednesday.
Noelle Baptiste won the girls epee individual state title and led the girls epee to their second straight squad championship, while the boys won their first sabre state title since 2004. The boys placed third overall while the girls were fifth overall.
”We did a good job,” said Hun head coach Rey Gonzalez. “I was very pleasantly surprised. They had a bad meet against Lawrenceville. They turned it around nicely.”
Baptiste closed out what’s been an incredible season with the epee championship that eluded her last year when she placed second. Baptiste was second to no one, as she was unbeaten all season through dual meets, invitationals and the state meet.
”I couldn’t have foreseen it at all,” said Baptiste, an East Windsor resident. “When I get into the bout, I’m able to analyze what the other person is doing. The bout decides whether I’m able to analyze fast enough. I can’t really anticipate what’s going to happen, which I think is the exciting part. That’s what I fence for — the exciting part and not knowing.”
Baptiste wasn’t sure about the epee squad’s chance this year, even though she and Erin Lee, who placed fifth in the individual epee, returned from last year’s title team. Danielle Walsh, another veteran fencer, elected not to be a part of the team this year.
”We had our new C strip, Sabrina Lee,” Baptiste said. “It was really difficult trying to get her up to the standards, but she is a hard worker. She had a lot of heart and determination. She lived up to what we did last year. We were optimistic. We’d like to win, but we knew it would take a lot of determination and heart and practice and work.
”It felt really good to win this year. I saw the entire team working together. We were all supporting each other. It was almost surreal winning the second year in a row. And winning individually, I’ve been practicing a lot. Every day I practice about four hours. It was really satisfying and gratifying to have that win. I had been anticipating the entire prep league. I had gone undefeated, so I was excited to be able to fence them again and see if any of them had improved over the month. It was really exciting.”
Gonzalez was thrilled to get an individual epee champion, and for Baptiste to finish her unbeaten season at the top.
”She was second last year,” he said. “This is the first time she won, and she’s only a junior. Erin Lee took fifth overall. She did a good job. She got a little tired at the end, but she only had one loss in the first round.”
Baptiste has seen a jump in her fencing since switching outside fencing clubs. She has earned her C rating for 2012, and will compete in the Summer Nationals in California this year after qualifying Feb. 11.
”Over the summer, I switched over to Medeo and I have a new coach, Yakov Danilenko,” Baptiste said. “I’ve really been improving since then. Mr. Ma’s didn’t have a lot of epees. At Medeo, I started to feel really challenged.”
She’s hoping to keep the winning going for the Raiders next year, though her squad will have a different look.
”Since I already won, I feel like I should be able to focus not so much on myself, but on the team,” Baptiste said. “We’re losing a lot of seniors. Next year will be difficult. We’ll have incoming freshmen and a few that were first year this year and will be moving up. I’ll be working on helping them move up and get used to varsity, and hopefully we can get first for the third year in a row.”
In foil, Phoebe Huang was third and Annette Jeffs was sixth. The girls foil placed third, while the girls sabre was sixth.
”Phoebe Huang went 6-1 on the A strip and took third overall,” Gonzalez said. “She was amazing. She really, really got it together.”
So did the boys sabre squad as they took the state title. Jamie Chen led the way for the Raiders before going on to place fifth individually. Robert Hedberg was sixth individually. Luke Kim was 3-2 on the B strip, and lost just once after being substituted out early for Michael Koo, a senior who’d been hurt earlier in the season but returned for the states.
”The boys haven’t placed this high in a while,” Gonzalez said. “And winning a weapon hasn’t happened in a long time.”
Only Chen and Koo are seniors for the sabre squad. Hedberg is a junior and Kim is a sophomore.
”This year, we kind of started off pretty rough,” said Chen, who hails from Taiwan. “Eventually, at the end of this season, the last few meets I kept losing, but during states everything came together and everything went right.
”I don’t think I was that confident,” he said. “But I told myself, it’s the last meet and told myself to give it everything I’ve got and use everything I’ve learned before. Everything turned out pretty well.”
Chen has developed into a reliable fencer for the Raiders. He took up the sport as a freshman, then spent full days fencing before his sophomore year. It paid off when he landed the A strip for his final two seasons, concluding with an appearance in the individual finals Wednesday.
”This year is my first year making it to finals for individuals for states,” he said. “I was really happy about that.”
It topped off a day that began with the squad title. Hedberg was unbeaten on the C strip for the team portion and Chen was 6-1 on the A strip. Once Kim was reinserted in the lineup, he lost just once and the Raiders had their squad crown.
”Last year, we were fourth place,” Chen said. “ We worked pretty hard this year.
”The first five bouts, since C strip was undefeated and I only lost one, I thought we might take top 3. I was getting a little nervous a little later, but I did all right.”
The boys epee placed fourth, and the foil, paced by freshman Matteo Favaloro’s 5-2 performance, came in fifth. The solid performances pushed Hun to finish third overall
”I was kind of surprised,” Chen said. “It’s a great way to end the season.”
Princeton Day School’s Zach Feldman was fourth and Quentin Frere-Carossio was fifth in boys foil, while Matthew Cavuto was fifth in boys epee. The boys foil squad was third. The Panther boys were fifth overall. The PDS girls sabre squad was fifth.