CHS boys' fencing team wins State title

The Columbia High School boys’ fencing team. ranked No. 1 in the Star-Ledger State Top 10, capped off their undefeated dual-meet season by taking home the State team tournament title at Morris Hills in Rockaway on March 2 with a crowd-pleasing 15-12 victory against State No. 2-ranked Bernards. Columbia had a terrific team effort, with Matt Gibson, Geoff Marino, Brian Kaneshige and Andrew Kelly winning all three of their bouts. The win gave the boys their first State team title since 2007, their fourth since 2003.
CHS pulled out ahead early. Each of saber, foil and epee won two of three bouts in the first round, starting Columbia off to 6-3 lead. The second round gave Columbia some trouble, as they were only able to add four more wins - one in saber, two in foil and one in epee -resulting in a 10-8 CHS lead at the end of the second round.
In the third round, Columbia won one saber bout and two foil bouts before the final epee fencers. With the score of 13-12 in favor of CHS entering the penultimate bout of the night, senior epee fencer Matt Gibson clinched the meet for Columbia with a 5-1 bout win, giving CHS the 14th win.
The foilists finished the night with six wins and three losses, with three wins each from Brian Kaneshige and Geoff Marino. The epee line had five wins and four losses, with three wins from Matt Gibson, and one each from Evan Accardi and Ben Prentice.
The saber line finished with four wins and five losses, with three wins from Andrew Kelly and one from Connor Thompson.
The boys’ fencing team had a stellar 2009-2010 season, with a first place win at the Cetrulo Tournament, a first place finish in the District Tournament, and an undefeated dual meet record.
The Cougars defeated Hunterdon Central on February 23 by a score of 18-9 in the semifinals.
Columbia pulled out ahead early, with a lead of 6-3 after the first round, and advanced to a 12-6 lead at the end of the second round. Saber fencer Andrew Kelly clinched the meet for the boys at 14-6.
Winning bouts for Columbia were saber fencers Andrew Kelly (2-1), Connor Thompson (1-1), Nick Stellini (2-0) and Michael Frederikse (1-0), foil fencers Brian Kaneshige (3-0), Geoff Marino (1-1) and Falcon Reese (1-1), and epee fencers Devon Good (2-1), Matt Gibson (2-1) and Evan Accardi (3-0).

CHS girls’ fencers excel at State Squad meet
On Feb. 28, the Columbia High School girls’ fencing team competed in the State Squad Championships at North Hunterdon High School against 15 other teams. The saber squad, comprised of Faizah Muhammad, Tory Trama, Gemma Roberts and Holly Barszcz, finished in third place with 29 wins. The epee squad, made up of Haley Hart, Sienna Batzli, Emily Himber and Alexis Auer, tied for third with Montgomery with 28 wins, but was awarded fourth place on indicators. The foil squad of Rachel Viqueira, Ginevra Czech and Sarah Hilton finished 11th with 20 wins.