Another busy weekend for CCHS Fencing

Thursday kicked off another busy weekend for the CCHS fencing team with a relay scrimmage with St John’s Prep and Dana Hall.

Most of the high school (and college) meets use a format with 3 starters in each of three weapons (Foil, Epee and Sabre) for a total of 27 bouts.  When one team has won 14 bouts they have won the meet (although the meet is fenced to completion for a final score). Thursday used the national and international relay format where the same 9 bouts per weapon are fenced but the first pair fence until someone gets to 5 or when 3 minutes have elapsed, then the next pair of fencers keeps that score and goes until someone gets to 10 or 3 minutes until the 9th round when they are going to 45. Although this does not result in an overall team score, it can be a very exciting format (a number of years ago in Huntington when Amanda Peterson started the last round behind 26-40 and won 45-41 in under 3 minutes).

Thursday’s meet against St John’s Prep and Dana Hall had some excitement with both a varsity and a JV meet. Men’s Sabre lead for the first 5 rounds but ended up losing 45-36. Men’s Foil saw the lead go back and forth in the first two rounds, Max Krims ’15 was able to bring the score within 1 in the 8th bout but the finals score ended 40-45. Men’s Epee was behind until the 8th bout when Luc Mundel ‘16 gave CC a 40-39 lead by outscoring his opponent 16-4 but that lead slipped away with a 44-45 loss.  Women’s Sabre squad leader, Cynthia Putnam, tried to turn things around in the 5th match outscoring her opponent 8-5 but in the end it was a 34-45 loss. Women’s Foil finished each of the 9 matches with the lead for a 45-32 win. Women’s Epee squad leader Jackie Luckner ‘14led a very young epee squad by staying even with her Dana Hall opponents but couldn’t make up any ground in the 23-45 loss.  

In the JV meet the Men’s Sabre squad (with all first year fencers) was able to outscore the Prep in half of the first 6 bouts but finished with a 32-45 loss. Men’s Foil was within a point (29-30) after 6 bouts but lost 40-45 with Dyson Little ’16 scoring 18 points over three bouts.  Men’s Epee traded the lead a few times, Addison Pitha ’16 scored 21 touches over three bouts and ended the 8th bout with a 40-38 lead. Unfortunately, that slipped away in the last minute of the 9th bout to end with a 43-45 loss.  Women’s Sabre kept it close but ended with a 37-45 loss. Women’s Foil fencer Claire Dettelbach ’17 scored 20 touches over 3 bouts but the match ended in a 40-45 loss. Women’s Epee lost 26-41 with sabre fencer Shelly Bean ’17 changing weapons to get ready to fill in on the epee squad Saturday in Huntington.

Today, 24 members of the team head to Huntington NY on Long Island to compete in the Huntington Relay Carnival on Saturday (6 hours on the big yellow limo…).  In Huntington, they will continue fencing squad by squad in the relay format with 8 Long Island Schools.  For this meet the squads are seeded into a direct elimination table with 12 squads and will fence off every place. This results in 3 or 4 matches for every squad and in the end, the final matches are often very close whether they are fencing for Gold or 11th place. There are also perpetual trophies awarded to the top men’s and women’s team donated by the CC team 10 years ago.

Sunday, the team is back in Massachusetts at Dana Hall for 3 rounds of Dual meets (against Hopkins, Bishop Feehan and one other school). After that the team will have some time off for some much needed rest and to study for exams.