Fencers ready for TOC event
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Kevin Gao is starting to gear up for the boys fencing Tournament of Champions on Saturday though he’s not spending too much time on it.
It will be the first trip to the TOC for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High South junior.
”I try not to think about it so I don’t get intimidated,” Gao said. “I know there’s a lot of fencers that are nationally ranked better than I am. It’s going to be like a real competition. I have to go there and fence and whatever happens, happens.”
If Gao is a little intimidated by the company he will be in for the final individual meet of the New Jersey season, he can understand how other teams felt against the Pirates saber squad at the squad state championships Sunday. WW-P South rolled to its third saber title in school history as the saber squad of Stefano Lucchetti, Derek Ge, Frank Huang and Gao picked up 45 wins to top Wayne Hills’ 42 for the championship win.
”We felt we had a really strong team, definitely the strongest team we’ve had in a couple years,” said Gao, who went 15-4 on the B strip. “It’s obviously great we got first place. We worked pretty hard. I don’t want to say we deserved it, but we worked hard to get it.”
It was a complete team effort with each strip losing just four bouts all day. Lucchetti was 15-4 on the A strip, and Ge went 8-2 and Huang went 7-2 as they split time on the C strip.
”When we first got there, we started off pretty strong,” Gao said. “We got a couple wins. Then, as my coach said, it was more of a mental game. There’s so many schools and time in between and time to get psyched out. If you see other teams doing well, you can get psyched out.
”In the middle, we made a couple mistakes. In the end, we made a final push and got our minds focused and finished strong.”
It was the first squad championship for the Pirates saber since they won it in 2012 when Lucchetti was a freshman. It’s the first title for the other three, all who are eligible to return next year.
”I think we’re living up to that expectation for the being the best boys saber squad,” said Pirates head coach Rebecca Lehrman. “That’s something I hope to hang onto.”
WW-P South was the lone area squad to medal at the squad state championships, but a number of teams came close.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro North boys epee of Prashant Baliga, Amit Sarma, Alec Wang and Eric Yu placed fourth with 36 wins, one win better than the fifth-place Montgomery High School team of Sahib Singh, Brennan Casey and Alec Grant. Montgomery’s foil squad of Rohan Dang, Ryan Fan and Derek Schneider took fourth with 40 wins, two fewer than third-place Hunterdon Central. Coming in sixth in saber behind WW-P South was WW-P North’s squad of Kyle Jacobson, Raymond Zheng and Weslly Pan, who took sixth. Zheng enjoyed the best pool record of any area individual with a 17-2 mark on the B strip.
Montgomery placed fourth in all three weapons on the girls side just days before they returned to the strip to claim third overall in the state with a 16-11 win over Bernards in the state team tournament consolation. The Cougars had lost to Pingry in the semifinals the week earlier.
”I have nine seniors, and I think this was the hardest thing,” said MHS girls coach Johanna Snedeker. “They’ve seen us go this far and move into the finals. Last year was a down year for us. I think they fully expected to be in the finals Wednesday. As the meet unfolded, reality hit.
”You can’t fault anything the girls did. The coaching strategy by Pingry was excellent. Their girls fenced beautifully and in the end they prevailed.”
Montgomery could get a measure of satisfaction out of their win over Bernards. Bernards had handed the Cougars one of their two losses on the year.
”They got us mid-season,” Snedeker said after the semifinals loss. “We have a chance to go and take that back.”
Montgomery’s win over Bernards came on the heels of their solid showing in the squad championships. The Cougars epee squad of Nasya Hristov, Madison Larkin, Anita Lovie and Chloe Sofield had 40 wins, two fewer than third-place Watchung Hills. The Cougars’ foil squad of Lauren Sun, Elaine Lee, Elizabeth Tieu, Vanessa Gao, Athena Barrett and Niharika Chandrasekar lost third place on indicators to Pingry after both had 42 wins. The MHS saber squad of Brenda Yang, Zoee D’Costa and Helen Zhang was three wins shy of third-place Governor Livingston. WW-P North’s saber squad of Katie Khaw, Celine Demorre and Divya John was seventh.
”Actually this year exceeded my expectations,” Gao said of the Pirate boys. “When I look back on the past few years, and look at how I’m fencing now and other people on the team, I can see that we’ve improved so, so much. If you work hard, you improve. I’m really pleased with the results this year. I thought we’d do well, but first place was tough. I was impressed by my performance and the rest of the team.”
The Pirates heard whispers off and on in the hallways at the squad championships. The murmurs were about how good their saber squad was, and they lived up to the billing while remaining quietly confident in themselves.
”We felt pretty good going in,” Lehrman said. “I think the boys were really confident that they were going to be able to run it home. That helped. It’s a long day though. Mentally, they really needed to fire themselves up at some point. There’s a lot of waiting. It’s like a wrestling match. You fence for not even three minutes, then wait for 20, or sometimes only 10, or sometimes it’s more. There’s a lot of anticipation throughout the day. It’s a mentally exhausting day for the kids. They did great. They pulled through and fenced well.”
WW-P South picked up confidence with its saber squad win in District 2, a district that was stronger this year than ever before with some of the teams added by realignment. The Pirates rode that momentum into the squad championships.
”It was pretty tough,” Gao said of the district. “It was like a preparation thing. It’s also a bit of a confidence booster because we got out of a tough district. We thought, if we can do this we have a chance of getting first in states. It was good for us.”
Gao can take the same approach into the individual state tournament Saturday. He’s an accomplished fencer outside of school who trains twice per week at the Manhattan Fencing Center in New York. The training has helped him enjoy his best year yet.
”I think in terms of high school fencing, I’ve been fencing more consistently,” Gao said. “I’m not dropping bouts I really shouldn’t. As a junior, I have seniority on the team so people expect me to do well. I feel like I can handle the pressure more too.”
The Pirates squad handled it well Sunday as favorites. Every school was out to knock them off, and WW-P South came home with gold. Gao and Lucchetti will be vying for medals at the boys individuals now.
”I think our state has a lot of great fencers,” Gao said. “A lot of them do school fencing, and you do get to meet them. They’re people you do know. It’s fun to have rivals. Just one off the top of my head Dawson Sieradzky (of Wayne Hills) is going. He’s good and consistent.
”It’s good to have good fencers. You can look forward to it. If you’re fencing a good fencer, you can step up to the task and try to beat them. I tell myself that I’ve been to some pretty scary competitions before and survived them. If I focus on my fencing and get in my zone, I will be OK. I just fence.”