During the bright and early snowy morning of Saturday January 11, the Morgan Fencing Team set off to North Haven high school for their annual JV tournament. Fencing began at 9am and lasted until 4:40 in the late afternoon. Everyone fenced their hardest, and the team left with five medals.
Our five medalists were Molly O’Donnell who got second place for women’s sabre, Seren Howard got third for women’s sabre, Saoirse O’Beirn got second place for women’s epee, Mekai Howard got third place for men’s foil, and Joey Morrissey got second place for men’s sabre. Six of the 14 fencers had to fence each other in direct elimination bouts, which is a very unfortunate setting because one fencer walks away closer to winning, and one walks away eliminated. During these situations neither fencer is allowed to get coached on the strip, and nobody is allowed to cheer. Seren Howard and Molly O’Donnell had to fence in sabre, Jude Watson and Joey Morrissey had to fence in sabre, as well as Saoirse O’Beirn and Annabelle Parent who had to fence in epee.
Head coach Jim Barnett left the tournament very happy with the turnout. “I am very proud of everyone’s performance, this is a very tough tournament at this time of the season. Everyone showed marked improvement since the start of the year and the future of our varsity squads looks great! We are going into a very tough part of the season beginning tonight with Cheshire Academy but this team is always ready when the conference and state championships roll around.”
This tournament is for second year fencers, and allows them to fence others in their weapon from across the state. The matches start out with pools which is when five to six fencers are put into a group and then will eventually fence everyone in that group. After pools are done there is a quick break, and time to watch the other weapons and cheer on the rest of the team. After the break, it is time to begin the direct elimination bouts which consist of 15 touch bouts. If you lose, you’re eliminated. However, if you win you will continue to fence your way to the top, and will get closer to medaling. Of the people that fence, the top eight fencers in each weapon get recognized, and of those eight, the top three get medals.
O’Donnell had a very successful day and stated “I was very scared going into this tournament because of last year’s novice tournament being so good, I wanted to do the same or better.” O’Donnell took second place in the state novice tournament just last February. “Something that I did to prepare myself was to tell myself I know everything I need to do and I have all the skills, I just needed to put all my scared and nervous mind set away and just fence. I think we all did very well and we came out with eight rankings.” This tournament was also a learning experience for the JV fencers. Breen shared, “I definitely got better at putting less pressure on myself and I got to work on my skills and strategies even more.” She talked about how the tournament helped her and she thinks it is going to prepare her for her future seasons.
During this tournament, the varsity fencers are in charge of making posters for the jv team so they are reminded that they are supported. Breen shared, “I am very appreciative of the posters, and the support from friends, family, and most importantly my teammates, motivates me when I am fencing.”
The varsity members will hold extra weapons and body cords for each fencer, write down their scores and who they are fencing, and might even get asked to referee. Writing down scores has been one of our team’s best tactics in recording how other teams do and what techniques they use, and also jotting down what each person should work on. Watson’s scores were written down by junior sabre fencer Lena Flaherty, he expressed “During tournaments, it can be extremely overwhelming, and after matches it is hard to remember scores from all of the bouts due to the pressure. Being able to go back and look at the scores and who I fenced helps me remember everything, while also reminding me what I need to work on for the future.”
Varsity fencers also had the opportunity to referee during the tournament. Junior Ava Nettleton shared, “It was a great experience to ref a competition of a higher level than your everyday match. I like being on the inside of things and getting involved so I’m glad my coach gave me the opportunity.” From getting to watch the JV fencers all day, she thinks that every one did an amazing job. “The JV team especially is a tight knit group so seeing them all supporting each other through wins and losses is always a great feeling,” she shared.
The Morgan fencing team competed this past Monday, January 13th in the Morgan gym versus North Branford, Cheshire Academy, and Lyme/Old Lyme. Against Cheshire Academy the women won 20-7, and the men won 18-9, against North Branford the women won 16-2, and the men won 10-8, and against Lyme/Old Lyme the men won 5-4. Some of the schools didn’t have full teams or squads, but it was a very successful night for the Huskies. The team is working at applying their skills during practices, and are talking with their coaches every day to make sure it pays off during matches and tournaments. The next big tournament will be the State Novice Tournament at Guilford High School on February 1st, where the team’s novice fencers will compile all of the knowledge and skills they learned and bring it to the strip.
