Mendham High School Fencing

Mendham Fencing has moved to a New Website

The Menham High School Fencing Parents Association has created a new website for the 2011-2012 Season.

The new website can be accessed by clicking the following link:

http://mendhamhsfencing.weebly.com/index.html

This web-blog will be linked to our new site as a way to preserve the history and accomplishments of the Mendham High School Fencing Program now in its eighth season of existence.

For those fencers, fencing parents or just fencing enthusiasts visiting this site for the first time- welcome. You will find articles, posts, and pictures of the Mendham Fencing Program dating back to 2006. The program, although relatively new to athletics at Mendham High School, has developed into one of the elite programs in the state of New Jersey. This past season saw both the boys and girls team reach the Final Four Championship Meet, with girls team finishing second and the boys fourth in the state.

The MHS Fencing Parent's Association would like to thank and acknowledge the outstanding contributions of our former head coaches Tom Tishman and Laura Pelizzoni along with the pioneering fencing parents who worked tirelessly to bring the program to where it is today. This weblog is a tribute to their yeoman efforts. This website is also a tribute to those former student athlete fencers who graced the strip and brought victory, honor, and pride to the Mendham High School Athletic Community.

Just for Fun

 
Mendham fencers are united on and off the strip! Tonight, a group attended the prom together - including a few "retired" team fencers and an "honorary" member of the West Morris Central sabre squad :) Just click the image to view it full-size.

Boden Accepted to NJ Governor's School

Girls' 2011-2012 Captain Alex Boden has been accepted to the New Jersey Governor’s School of the Sciences for the summer of 2011, to be held at Drew University. The mission of the Governor’s School of the Sciences is to broaden the scholars’ appreciation and knowledge of science through exposure to a range of scientific topics and scientists. The Governor’s School is a highly competitive program. The program is free of tuition, raising funds from private and corporate sponsors.  It selects scholars for the summer’s program based on the excellence of their academic performance, written essays, standardized test scores, math and science teacher recommendations, and extracurricular activities in and out of science - like fencing!
           

 

Mother's Day Pie & Quiche Sale Fundraiser

The annual Mother's Day Pie and Quiche Sale fund raiser is here.  Alstede Farms is supporting our efforts again this year.  Orders can be taken from now until the deadline of Thursday, April 28.  Alstede Farms will bake pies and quiches for delivery at the high school on Thursday afternoon, May 5.

All fencers need to do their part to help raise funds for equipment and training expenses.  Each fencer is required to take at least three orders.  To incentivize greater sales, we are again having a contest for most sales by an individual with prizes of gift certificates from the Wicker Basket, Starbucks and iTunes.  Contact Mrs. Jacobson with any questions.

Download: Pie_Sale_2011_Order_Form(.pdf)

Download: Pie_Sale_Cover_Sheet_2011(.pdf)

Head Coach Tishman Named the Star-Ledger's State Girls Fencing Coach of the Year, 2010-11

Congratulations to head coach Tom Tishman, who has been honored by the Star-Ledger as the State Girls Fencing Coach of the Year!

Be sure to read the full article here.

Mendham Fencers Named All-State by Coaches' Association

Saturday, March 19, Martinsville, NJ - The New Jersey high school fencing coaches' association, the NJIFA, met at the Pingry School to vote on and announce their All-State teams for 2011.  Fencers earn All-State points in the four major events during the season, the NJIFA Relays, the NJSIAA District Championships, the NJSIAA Squad State Championships and NJSIAA Individual Championships. Fencers from the Mendham High School program earned five spots, the most in its seven-year history, on the All-State Teams:

Ryan Western, NJIFA 1st Team All-State Girls' Foil

Alex Boden, NJIFA 1st Team All-State Girls' Sabre

Mark Zimmermann, NJIFA 2nd Team All-State Boys' Epee

Kaitlyn Wallace, NJIFA 3rd Team All-State Girls' Epee

Julian Campos, NJIFA 3rd Team All-State Boys' Foil

Captains Ballot for 2011-12 Season

The Mendham High School Fencing teams elect their own captains.  At this time each season, all fencers are asked to cast ballots for both team captains since our teams are run as a unified program.

Download: 2011-12 Captains Ballot(.pdf)

All 2010-11 fencers, including graduating seniors, should return their ballots with two votes only, one for a boy and one for a girl, to Mrs. Dunnick in Room 126 by the close of school, Wednesday, March 16.

Graduating seniors are asked to cast ballots because their seniority in the program makes them great judges of who would make a good captain for the following season.

The captains, elected by their teammates, and the squad leaders, appointed by the coaching staff, will be announced at the Awards Banquet on Thursday, March 24.  

Jung Most Dedicated Fencer Voting; Due Date for Banquet RSVP

Please, download the Jung Most Dedicated Fencer ballot. Vote for one boy and one girl.  The completed ballot should be returned to Mrs. Dunnick in Room 126 by the close of school on Friday, March 11.  Thank you to MHSFPA Co-President Kris Swanson for producing the ballot.

RSVPs and checks for Mendham High School Fencing 2011 Awards Banquet tickets are, also, due Friday, March 11.  The deadline for ordering tix is a hard deadline.  Places cannot be held without checks and orders cannot be taken after the deadline because of Meadow Wood Manor's lead time that they need to make the event really nice.

NJSIAA Individual Championships; Daylight Saving Time

The largest contingent in Mendham High School Fencing's seven-year history will compete at the NJSIAA Individual Championships on Sunday, March 13, at Montgomery High School, Skillman, NJ.  Further, we believe that the nine qualifiers from both genders to the Individual Championships is the largest number from any high school program in New Jersey.  

Participants are responsible for their own transportation to the Individual Championships.  There is no bus.

Girls' Epee	Kaitlyn Wallace
	Megan Wallace
	Shawn Osarczuk
Girls' Foil	Ryan Western
Girls' Sabre	Alexandra Boden
Boys' Foil	Julian Campos
	Kyle Doyle
	Adam Campos
Boys' Epee	Mark Zimmermann

Check-in for the point weapons is 9:00am EDT and for sabre, 10:30am EDT.  Don't forget to move your clocks forward to Daylight Saving Time before retiring on Saturday.  One loses an hour of sleep on Saturday night/Sunday morning. 

Cobra Junior Champions: KWallace and Boden

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Andriatis 8th in Men's Epee

Sunday, March 6, Jersey City - Mendham High School fencers turned out in large numbers at the Cobra Junior Tournament sanctioned by the NJ Division of the USFA. The following ten fencers participated:

Mendham HS Fencer	Event	Event Rating	Finish	Rating Earned
Kaitlyn Wallace	Women's Epee	B2	1st of 33
Megan Wallace	Women's Epee	B2	19th of 33
Alexandra Boden	Women's Sabre	D1	1st of 16	D2011
Jessica Lakritz	Women's Foil	E1	10th of 12
Kyle Persau	Men's Sabre	C2	30th of 43
Michael Hasson	Men's Sabre	C2	43rd of 43
Alexander Andriatis	Men's Epee	C2	8th of 36
Lars Swanson	Men's Epee	C2	17th of 36
Santiago Gonzalez	Men's Epee	C2	29th of 36
Peter Sauter	Men's Epee	C2	32nd of 36

Three Mendham Squads Medal at State Championships

Saturday-Sunday, March 5-6, Annandale, NJ - Five squads of Mendham HS fencers competed in the NJSIAA Squad State Fencing Championships this weekend at North Hunterdon High School.  Three earned their way onto the medal podium earning the title as one of top three high school fencing squads in the state.   Mendham's five squads had qualified to the State Championships by finishing in the top four in their respective events of the eleven schools at the District 1 Championships on the last weekend of January.

The girls' epee squad of Kaitlyn Wallace, squad leader Megan Wallace and Shawn Osarczuk won 31 of 45 bouts to finish 2nd in the state championships.  The girls' foil squad of captain Ryan Western, assistant captain Beatrice Jacobson, Annie Blanc and Jessica Lakritz won 26 of 45 bouts to finish 7th in the state.  The girls' sabre squad of squad leader Alexandra Boden, Natasha Sidhu and Meredith Gano won 19 bouts to finish 10th in the championships.

The boys' foil squad of assistant team captain Kyle Doyle, Julian Campos and squad leader Adam Campos won 32 of 45 bouts to take home the silver medal as the 2nd best foil squad in the state.  The boys' epeeists consisting of squad leader Mark Zimmermann, Lars Swanson and Alexander Andriatis won 27 of 45 bouts to take the bronze medal by touch differential over Don Bosco Prep who, also, finished with 27 wins.

NJSIAA Girls' Squad Championships Results

NJSIAA Boys' Squad Championships Results

The boys' three-weapon team will be fencing Ridge High School on Wednesday afternoon, March 2,  at 4:30pm for 3rd place in the NJSIAA State Team Championships.  While the girls' team will be fencing Northern Highlands in the Gold Medal Match at 7:30pm.  Both matches take place at Morris Hills High School.  This is the deepest each team has ever gone in their respective state team championships during the seven-year history of the Mendham fencing program.

Cobra Junior Tournament

The Cobra Fencing Club is holding a Junior(under-20) tournament in all six events on Saturday and Sunday, March 5-6.  Both gender's foil events are on Saturday afternoon, while both epee and sabre events are on Sunday.

The tournament was specifically placed by the club on the NJ Division's schedule on the weekend before the NJSIAA State Individual Championships to provide a "practice" tournament for those individuals competing at the Championships.  Therefore, the coaching staff has designated the Cobra Junior Tournament one that Mendham High School fencers should be competing in.

Press Coverage of Girls' Win over Columbia

A brand new weblog entitled, "North Jersey Girls and Women's Sports" covered Mendham's win over Columbia.  Scroll down to the weblog to a great slide show of action and candid shots from the meet.

Time of Boys' Match Set

The boys' state semi-final match against Columbia has been scheduled for a 7pm start.  The bus with the entire team will leave Mendham HS at 5pm on Wednesday, February 23.  The match will take place at New Jersey Fencing Alliance, which is at 52 Burnett Ave, Maplewood. 

Doyle Takes Presidents Cup C & Under Foil at Fencers Club

Sunday, February 20, Manhattan - In preparation for the upcoming, penultimate meet of the season, Assistant Team Captain Kyle Doyle, representing Morris Fencing Club in Randolph, traveled into Gotham for the Presidents Cup C and Under Epee and Foil Tournament.  He didn't disappoint his fans by going 9-0 on the day, taking home the Presidents Cup and renewing his D-rating in foil.  Doyle beat John Kirk of Columbia High School representing New Jersey Fencing Alliance, 15-12, in the gold medal bout.  Click here to see the DE table. 

Mendham Fencing's Next Weeks

Fri 18 Feb - Killer Practice, All 3-weapons

Sat 19 Feb - Open foil fencing at Morris FC, 10:00am - 12:30

Sun 20 Feb - BCAF Ironman Epee Open, Lambertville, NJ

Mon 21 Feb - 3-weapon practice, 2:00pm - 4

Tue 22 Feb - Girls Host Columbia, State Team Semi-Finals, 5:45pm reporting time for 7pm meet in the small gym

Wed 23 Feb - Boys Travel to NJ Fencing Alliance to fence Columbia, State Team Semi-Finals, Time to be determined

Thu 24 Feb - Sabre practice with guest coach Frank Kassimov, 4:00pm - 6

Fri 25 Feb - 3-weapon practice, games will be played

Sat 26 Feb - Girls Squad States, Bus leaves for North Hunterdon at 9:00am

Sun 27 Feb - Boys Squad States, Bus leaves for North Hunterdon at 9:00am

Mon 28 Feb - Foil and Sabre Practice, 5:00pm - 7

Tue 1 Mar - Last practice of season

Wed 2 Mar - Both teams compete for either 3rd at 4:30pm or Gold Medal at 7:30pm at Morris Hills High School, Details to be announced

Sat-Sun 5-6 Mar - Coaching Staff 'Designated' USFA Tournament - Cobra Junior

Sun 13 Mar - 4 boys, 5 girls compete in State Individuals at Montgomery HS

Historic Day for Mendham Fencing

Coverage of Mendham HS Fencing's historic day:

Star Ledger: Boys at Ramapo - Star Ledger: Girls hosting Holy Angels

Bergen Record: "Holy Angels Falls Short Against Mendham"

Boys Brackets - Girls Brackets

The Boys' Team fences in the semi-finals against Columbia High School, Maplewood, at New Jersey Fencing Alliance on Wednesday, February 23.  The Girls' Team is scheduled on Tuesday, February 22, to host Columbia High School.  In initial discussions with Columbia, we have learned they, too, have girls traveling on Tuesday afternoon from Dallas, but their coach will not be available on Wednesday.  So, it increasingly looks like we will be hosting on February 22, at 7:00pm in the small gym.  This is not yet official.    

Both teams will definitely be competing on Wednesday, March 2, at Morris Hills High School, fencing for either a state championship bronze medal at 4:30pm or the gold medal at 7:30pm.

Good luck to Kaitlyn Wallace, Alexandra Boden and Ryan Western at the USFA Junior Olympics this weekend in Dallas and Alexander Andriatis who will be competing at the BCAF Ironman Epee Open.

Teams' Dress Code and Boys' Line-Up

For the first time, the Mendham High School fencing program has gotten both teams into the 'Elite 8' of the NJSIAA State Team Championships.  The girls' and boys' teams will be dressing for the occasion to help promote the teams' accomplishments within the school community.  On Wednesday, February 16, ladies will be wearing either skirts or dresses. Gentlemen will be wearing collared shirts and ties, no jeans.  Those forgetting to dress will be singing the teapot song.   

Mendham High School Boys’ Fencers
Leaving School at 1:45pm on Wed 17 Feb 2011
for 'Elite 8’ State Championship Meet at Ramapo
Foil	Epee	Sabre
Kyle Doyle	Mark Zimmermann	Kyle Persau
Julian Campos	James Flanagan	Mark Zawadiwsky
Adam Campos	Lars Swanson	Gaston Gonzalez
Adam Pollack	Alexander Andriatis	Robin Rizal
Tommy Myers	Jairo Gonzalez-Ward	Joe Falvo
Joe Marrett	James McManus	Michael Hasson
	David Ricculli

We are going to definitely take the top five in each weapon and try to take all the fencers listed.

The girls' match will take place in Main Gym beginning at 6:30pm, 5:15pm reporting time.

There will be a foil and sabre practice on Monday, February 21, at 1pm-3pm.

Boys' State Meet Moved to Wednesday

The Mendham Boys' Fencing Team will be fencing Ramapo High School in the NJSIAA "Elite 8" round of the State Team Championships away on Wednesday, February 16, at 3:30pm.  The match will be double-stripped with referees Jeff Bukantz and Jon Seidel.  This will allow the concert participants on our boys' team to get back to Mendham High School in time for the concert that same evening.

The Mendham Girls' Team will be hosting the Academy of the Holy Angels that same evening, Wednesday, February 16, in the small gym at 6:30pm.  

This is the first season that the Mendham program has advanced both teams into the Elite 8 round of the NJSIAA State Team Championships. See the Boys Brackets and the Girls Brackets.

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Both teams, varsity and JV, will be fencing at Livingston on Monday afternoon, February 14, Valentine's Day in the make-up of previously snowed out, regular-season, non-conference meets.  The round-trip buses will leave Mendham HS at 3:15pm for meets that begin at 4:30pm.

Boys' TEAM Beats Montgomery in Sweet 16 Round of State Championships

Wednesday, February 9, Skillman, NJ - The #11 seed Mendham High School Boys' Fencing team traveled to #6 seed Montgomery High School in the "Sweet 16" round of the NJSIAA State Team Fencing Championships this afternoon.

Mendham's sabre squad took two of the first three bouts and Mendham never looked back.  This was the very definition of a team win.  Two of Montgomery's fencers, Sledeski in sabre and Won in foil, went 3-0 on the day, but to counter that every Mendham starter won at least one bout in the first two rounds.  In fact, Mendham didn't lose two bouts in a row until the score was a comfortable 13-5 in their favor.  All three squads won their 9-bout section of the meet.  Another telling statistic from the meet shows how hard the Mendham team fought.  Mendham won four out of the five bouts decided by one touch before the meet was clinched. 

Sabre squad leader Kyle Persau insured his squad would win its weapon, 5-4, when he clinched the match at 14-7 by winning the final sabre bout. Persau went 2-1 on the day. Also, in sabre, freshman Mark Zawadiwsky went 2-1.  In epee, both squad leader Mark Zimmermann and Lars Swanson went, 2-0.  Zimmermann came back from 2-4 down to beat Montomery's A-strip epeeist in one of those one-touch victories.  In foil, freshman Julian Campos went, 2-0. 

On to Ramapo next Thursday afternoon/evening, February 17, in the "Elite 8."  This is the Mendham team's first time advancing into the Elite 8 in the seven year history of the program.

Weapon-Specific Training at Morris FC Valentine's Weekend

Mendham High School's fencing program will be practicing on Saturday, February 12, at Morris Fencing Club, Randolph.

For the foil fencers, there is open bouting from 10am until 12:30pm.

Foil group lesson at 1:00pm

Epee group lesson at 2:30pm

Sabre group lesson at 4:00pm

The group lessons are paid for by the Mendham High School Fencing Parents' Association, which is an IRC 501(c) non-profit organization.