Written By Thomas Baker|
Photos by Mike Daly and parents of the Morgan Fencing Team|
Every athlete has the goal of success and doing well at the highest level. Most of the time this goal is doing well at States or Shorelines. In Fencing, teams work hard during the season for the state tournaments in March. However, unlike many sports, there are two separate weekends for States. State Individuals is where you fence by yourself, and depending on how well you and your teammates do separately, you may qualify for Team States the following weekend. At Team States, you fence as a team and have to win the match as a whole. Only eight teams for each weapon fence at Team States, and they fence in a bracket format to determine placements at the end of the day.
This year at the State Individual Tournament, Morgan Fencing’s Foil and Sabre squads fenced on Saturday, February 29th, while the epee squad fenced on Sunday, March 1st. The Team States was held on March 7th.
The team placed very well at the State Individual Tournament with sophmore Kyra Savage and junior Augusta Wohlstrom placing in the top 24 women’s sabre in the state. Men’s sabre had all three fencers, sophmore Connor Loth, junior Ciro Falanga, and senior Ethan Tessman placing in the top 30 in the state. Men’s Foil had seniors Thomas Baker, Matt Albert, and Lucas Morello all place in the top 35. Next, women’s foil had junior Alex Wolf, junior Genna Rauccio, and senior Kaitlyn Tunney place in the top 49. Finally, men’s epee had junior Mac Abbott, junior Owen O’Donnell, and senior Andrew Daly all placing in the top 43, and women’s epee consisting of senior Lily Kozak, junior Mary Limauro, and junior Lilly Morrissey placing in the top 33 in the state.
This year marks the first year in the program’s history where all six fencing squads made it to team states. Morgan’s Varsity Fencers competed and fenced well this year, and Isabella Reciene (senior) received a medal for 8th place in women’s sabre at the State Individual Tournament.
After the State Individuals on March 7th, Men’s foil qualified 4th, women’s foil 7th, women’s sabre 4th, men’s sabre 8th, men’s epee 5th, and women’s epee qualified 6th. The Team States were held at Fitch High School on March 7th. At the end of the day, Women’s Epee placed 4th in the state followed by Men’s Foil, Women’s Foil, Men’s Sabre, and Women’s Sabre in 6th. Men’s Epee ended the day 8th in the state.
The Morgan Fencing Team will begin getting ready for next season as soon as the summer, with optional lessons throughout the summer and fall available to athletes. There is also a week-long camp designed to teach new fencers basics before joining the team. Coaches, Jim Barnett, Jim Harris, and Chris Balestracci will start training next year’s team in November to get ready for States next year, aiming higher and higher every year.
