Columbia HS boys and girls fencing teams each finish second place at District 3 Tournament

LIVINGSTON — Snow and cold could not stop the Columbia High School fencers from fighting hard and finishing with many top spots at the District 3 Tournament held at Livingston High School Sunday, Jan 19.

The districts were re-organized this year and Columbia found itself in the largest, and arguably, the most difficult district in the state. Among the schools competing with Columbia were  Chatham, Livingston, Millburn, Montclair, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Morristown, Newark Academy, boys-only Oratory Prep, Randolph, West Morris Central, West Morris Mendham and West Orange.

Nonetheless, the CHS girls and boys teams each finished second overall! For the boys, they were edged out of first place by Newark Academy and were literally one bout away from winning it all. Finishing in second place means that both the girls and boys teams will advance to the Sweet Sixteen State Championship beginning in early February.

In addition, five of CHS’ six squads – girls epee, boys and girls foil and boys and girls sabre –  placed within the top four for their respective weapons and will advance to the State Squad Championship tournament to be held over the weekend of Feb. 22-23. Specifically, the boys foil squad finished in first place, winning gold; while the boys sabre squad took bronze.

For the girls, the epee squad took home silver, while the girls foil and sabre squads finished in fourth place.

On the individual front, five CHS fencers did well enough to qualify for the State Individual Championship tournament on March 1. Jack Woods won gold for boys foil, Jeremy Giles won silver for boys sabre, Shaine Hammarberg won bronze for girls sabre, Lindsey Minor won bronze for girls epee and Vivienne Clarke came in fourth place for girls foil.