Allez, NA Fencers!

During this past weekend, both the Varsity Boys’ and Girls’ Fencing teams competed in the prestigious Cetrulo and Santelli tournaments. Each is respectively the largest high school tournament in the world and approximately one thousand fencers gather over both days, with the boys competing on Saturday and the girls on Sunday. It is one full day of fencing that can be as exciting as it is tiring, as challenging and nerve-racking, as it is inspiring and motivating.

Our Newark Academy fencers met at our campus at 6:30 am both days to be at Drew University shortly after 7 am, ready to warm up intensely and get mentally prepared for the tough, long day. They treasured moments of camaraderie and concentration before the fencing storm unleashed and our teams were broken down into groups according to their weapon. Coaches were scattered amongst the roughly 500 fencers each day trying to keep an eye on all of our fencers, with Coach B-Y following sabre, Coach Lisovicz with epee, and Coach Iurie with foil. Coach Salvat was in the mix refueling fencers and keeping an eye on the event from a high perch. With so much going on it gave our squad captains time to shine, showing their leadership skills: strategizing, encouraging their teammates throughout the day, providing them with great advice and feedback, etc.
The whole event proved to be a successful growth experience for most and an opportunity for some individuals to contribute with many victories. As a whole, the NA overall scores did not seem outstanding at first glance, but they were certainly a prominent achievement considering the newness and relatively short experience of our squad.

As a collective, the boys finished 25th out of 56 and the girls finished 20th out of 50.

Breaking it down per weapon, the highlights for the girls could include:
-The sabre slayers won their first round pool with 13 wins. In the second round, they again accumulated 13 wins to finish 10th overall in the final standings. On an individual level, Cadmus Sheffield ’24 tallied 4 hard-fought wins, Olivia Dai ‘26 a fantastic 12 wins (going undefeated in the first round), and 10 victories from our captain Jamie Shen ‘24 against very fierce competitors.
-The epee ensemble started out very strong winning their first three bouts, finishing the first round with 12 wins and 13 in the second round to place at an impressive 13th overall. Individually, Annabelle Bauer ‘26 got considerable experience against tough opponents. One of the biggest highlights of the day was Leslie Llivicota ‘26 earning her first win and two more. Eva Sirichenko '24 achieved a stupendous 12 total wins and went undefeated in the final round, and our captain Inchara Hosanagar '24 secured 10 wins with her usual patient and reflexive approach.
-The foil flock flew together throughout the day and, even though they didn’t get as many wins as they would have wanted, they stuck together like glue and never gave up. Madi Bartie '26 had one very close match and a win via opponent forfeit, Cate Estilo '26 had a thrilling win in style in each round, Karla Morocho '26 had a few really competitively contested bouts in the tough B strip, and our captain Izzy McNeilly-Anta '23 had 8 overall wins, showing her grit to go 5 out of 6 in the second round.

As for the boys, though the results were considerably good, the scores and the standings didn’t reflect their improvement, consistency, and efforts.
-The sabre squad started out with 11 wins in the first round and then dominantly won their second-round pool with 14 wins. Individually, Xavier Atwell '26 was a team player fencing in the B strip during the first round and was later able to achieve two wins in the second round; Gavin Elbert '26 amazed everyone with 9 wins in total; and our captain, Andrew Deng '24, stepped up and set the tone going fully undefeated throughout the whole tournament.
-The foil fellas faced some fierce competition early on against the eventual winning team. Despite that, the team achieved a 10-win tally in the first round. The second round proved to be more challenging, especially considering that we had lost a fencer and had to forfeit one-third of our bouts. Matt Teytel '23 obtained three laborious wins in the first round. Agastya Batchu '25 got us two wins, including an impressive one in the B strip. Meanwhile, our captain, Will Tsai '23, won some very intense battles to get his total to 12 victories.
-The epee echelon showed up without one of our more established fencers, Hudson Lee '24, who unfortunately couldn’t make it in the end due to illness. Nonetheless, the group proved to stay strong and achieved 13 wins in the first round. 10 victories in the second round ensued to place 21st overall. Individually, Logan Horowitz '24 achieved 8 victories, Jason Mo '24 obtained an incredible 3 victories in the B strip, and our captain Tora Mishima ‘23 dominated with 12 victories.

All in all, this was a solid overall performance and, even though it wasn’t near past results, it probably exceeded initial expectations. These teams and these fencers aren’t ones that give up and you can expect them to compete with effort, eagerness, and enthusiasm.

We encourage everyone to be en garde, ready to support our fencers. We are very proud of them, it’s an honor to cheer for and with them. One, two, three, Go NA!