| Northern Highlands is in its second season as a varsity boys and girls fencing
program under the tutelage of head coach Oleg Stetsiv and assistant coach John Quinn. The boys team is led by returning
District 4 Foil champion senior Phil Arredondo. As the only senior among the 30 members on the squad, Arredondo's
leadership has been instrumental in the successful implementation of this new Highlander varsity sport. |
| Leading the girls' team is the sabre powerhouse duo of sophomores Caroline
Vloka and Sammy Roberts. Last year, the pair led the girls' sabre squad to a NJSIAA state championship as freshman,
a feat that arguably would be a first of its kind in not only NJSIAA Fencing competitions, but NJSIAA state titles
of all sports. Vloke was the individual state sabre champion and Roberts finished an overall 6th at the state individual
competition. |
| "One of our goals coming into this season was to field a competitive
squad in every weapon. We knew that at the onset of the season we would need contributions from many first and
second year fencers to be competitive," said Quinn. "Our hope was to improve as the season progresses
as our inexperienced fencers honed their skills on the strip both in practice and at tournaments. Both the boys
and girls squads have far exceeded those early expectations." |
| The Highlander boys' squad has started the season 1 - 3, defeating Governor
Livingston High School 18-9 and losing close matches to Mendham (15-12), Wayne Hills (14-13) and state powerhouse
Ramapo (17-10). Returning boys' sabre Frank Trumbetti and Matt Morowitz have led a quaretet of fencing newcomers
to early success. Juniors Tom Tavano and Ryan Sydnor and freshman Ari Kartalyan round out the boys' saber squad.
Trumbetti has been outstanding from the onset of the season, fencing to an outstanding 9 - 3 mark on the A strip,
losing a pair of tough matches to state championship favorites Ramapo. |
| The foil squad returned five fencers with varsity experience led by Phil
Arredondo. Junior Dan Morowitz and sophomores Mike Fotinatos, Tim Pak and Dave Holzer who are joined by freshman
Doug Blackmore . Arredondo has opened the season undefeated at 8 - 0 (an additional 3 - 0 competing at epee). Blackmore
has also seen early season success recording a 6 - 4 mark including going 3 - 0 in the team's victory over Governor
Livingston. Fotinatos has demonstrated both skill on the strip and as a team leader during practice working with
the younger fencers. |
| Juniors Carmine Iannaccone, David Atwater, Max Lieb, Karan Chhabra and freshman
Greg Griffoul make up the epee squad. Iannaccone has been a standout since the start of the season fencing to a
7 and 5 mark. |
| On the girls side the team has lost three very close early season matches
by identical scores of 14-13 to Wayne Hills, Ramapo and Governor Livingston, with each match decided by the final
epee fencer. The team's fourth match was a 15-12 loss to Mendham. A trio of fencing newcomers, freshmen Diana Wang,
Zoë Lieb and Megan Pepe join Roberts and Vloka on the saber line. Each of the newcomers has seen their hard
work in practice pay dividends as each has earned early season victories. The inexperience of the C strip fencers
might make the road to a second consecutive state title a bumpy one but the skill and leadership of Roberts and
Vloka has already begun to rub off on the rookies. |
| The girls' foil squad is led by junior Vicky Chu who has fenced to a record
of 6 and 6 in the highly competitive foil division. Returning varsity starters Nandini Sharma and Fei Long have
been joined by freshman Stephanie Shi and Guinevere Parise to form a formidable foil squad. |
| The epee squad led by sophomore Julie Kohn and Juniors Demelza Davies and
Sarry Chung has been outstanding early on demonstrating tremendous character as they step on to the strip with
each match on the line. Kohn has fenced to a .500 record and Davies tops the squad with a 4 - 2 record splitting
time with Chung and newcomers Julia Iannaccone and Michelle Baer. |
| "The greatest strength of the girls fencing team is their tremendous
camaraderie and team spirit," continued Quinn. "I have never seen a group of young student athletes who
are as committed to seeing their teammates succeed as this group of girls. They truly embody what high school sports
are supposed to be about." |
| Ramapo got off to a shaky start when the Raiders' sabre squad, which had
expected to dominate West Milford, lost two of its first three bouts, putting the Raiders behind in the overall
score. Only freshman Adrian Bak, fencing on the A strip, won his bout by a decisive 5-0 score. |
| Senior and squad captain Eric Oliver, senior and overall team captain Dennis
Kim and junior John Plunket, swept their foil bouts by scores of 5-3, 5-1, and 5-1, respectively, putting the Raiders
into the lead that was not relinquished for the rest of the match. The three starting foilists also swept their
bouts in the second round bringing Ramapo to an overall score of 10-5, within reach of the match winning 14th victory. |
| In the epee competition, the coach Paul Apsotol's Raiders faced West Milford's
Cetrulo bronze medalists. Senior Peter Ragone and junior Mike Kennelly, each won their first round bouts by 5-3,
giving the squad a 2-1 record and boosting Ramapo's lead to 6-3. In the second round, with the match still very
much in contention, Ragone and Kennelly again won their bouts bringing the overall score to 12-6. Ragone's victory
was the highlight of the meet since he beat Brian Domanski, the West Milford team leader and one of the strongest
epeeists in the state. |
| In the 3rd and final round the sabreists finally kicked into high gear and
swept their bouts. Bak delivered the game-winning 14th victory and with Winer finished with 2-1 records for the
meet while substitute, junior Jin Woo Youm won his bout 5-0. |
| Having clinched the victory, Ramapo substituted all of its foil and epee
starters and the substitutes won their bouts - juniors Matt Ahn, Justin Van Der Horn and sophomore Alex Kim in
foil, and juniors Adam Tuckman, Michael Krouse and sophomore Jon Schiavo in epee. Ramapo opened the season with
wins over Indian Hills (17-10), Don Bosco Prep (18-9), Fair Lawn (23-4) and Northern Highlands (17-10). |
| In the 2006 Cetrullo Boys Fencing Tournament contested at Voorhees High
School on Sunday, January 8, Ramapo tied for sixth place in the 40-team field. The sabre team of Rothman and the
Bak brothers claimed the gold medal. Don Bosco Prep finished in a tie for 11th placed as the Ironmen's epee squad
of Jake Diliberfto, Andrew Koziol and Logan Stallings captured the silver medals by defeating Voorhees, Morris
Knolls and Morristown before losing a thriller to Bernards by a 15-13 score. The sabre trio of Chris Ferrone, Ashley
Nealis and Ryan placed fourth. |
| Holy Angels is off to a 5-0 start in fencing as the Class of 2006 is playing
a major role in the squad's success under third-year coach Patrick Curran. The Angels with Eileen Chapel serving
as team captain, defeated previously unbeaten Wayne Hills 17-10 in a Bergen-Passaic Fencing League match on Tuesday.
Junior Martyna Urbanowitz is unbeaten in dual meet competition as she raised her record to 14-0 when she went 3-0
in the epee competition. Caitlin Scala and Krista Vacci, who placed 12th in the NJSIAA state championships in 2005,
were both 3-0 in the sabre event while Dana Baines went 3-0 in foil. Once again, the Angels excelled in the Santelli
Girls Fencing Tournament, placing seventh overall that was highlighted by a fifth place finish in the sabre discipline. |
