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Ward Melville’s Ben Rojak and Newfield’s Evan Sidorowicz reach out to get a touch on one another. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

Newfield was searching for its first win of the season, but the Wolverines had their hands full Dec. 19 with a matchup against Ward Melville on the fencing strip. The Patriots dynasty handily outscored its opponent 19-8 to extend their undefeated season to 4-0. Sabreist Jack Rohan defeated his third opponent on the night to give his team the 14th victory out of 27 possible, which put the meet away.

Ward Melville head coach Jeff Salmon flushed his bench to get his nonstarters some experience on the strip, and even those Patriots excelled.

Ward Melville’s Regan St. Clair and Newfield’s Jake Hempe connect. Photo by Bill Landon

“This year we have a lot of seniors and then there’s a big empty spot, so I’m trying to prepare for the future,” Salmon said. “But I feel pretty comfortable this season. It’s next season that I’m trying to get ready for.”

Sophomore foilist Jake Hempe broke the ice for Newfield in the fifth bout of the evening, defeating Ward Melville’s Regan St. Clair 5-1.

Hempe is undefeated after four meets, and with his victories over Ward Melville, improved to 15-0 on the season.

“Ward Melville is exactly what I was expecting,” Hempe said. “ I fence with these guys at club, but as far as our performance, we just have to be more aggressive. We have the right actions, but sometimes we’re too slow. We need to come off the blade faster and we have to finish.”

Ward Melville senior epéeist Michael Jaklitsch blanked his opponent 5-0 in the seventh bout to stretch his team’s lead to 6-1.

“We’re a strong team — we fenced really well — so it’s nice when we face a team that may not be as strong, where we can get our new fencers out on the strip,” Jaklitsch said. “The big thing is to get them ready in case we have an injury or someone gets sick.”

Jaklitsch said his squad is shallow in epée, so his focus has been training the new fencers.

Newfield sabreist Patrick Hyneman said, despite being shutout by his opponent, the defeat makes him a better fencer.

Ward Melville’s Nick Ramos gets a touch on Newfield’s Vincent Reyes. Photo by Bill Landon

“I had fenced them during a tournament, and when I go up against them, I learn so much from these guys,” Hyneman said. “Sure, it’s sad to lose, but to fence these guys — I take what I’ve learned into my next match.”

Newfield head coach Kyle Schirmer said his team is young, with just two seniors and one junior, and said it’s a sophomore that stands out on his team.

“Hempe is my captain — he’s been on the team since the seventh grade, he’s a good team leader, he’s patient and he helps the other kids,” said the coach.

Ward Melville foilist Matthew Chiarelli won his first bout 5-2, but lost his second in a close contest, falling 5-4 to Hempe.

“We got a lot of the new fencers in today, which is always nice,” Chiarelli said. “That’s great to get them out on the strip because they are the future of our team, so it’s good to bring them in early to see what it’s like out there.”

With the loss, Newfield drops to 0-5 and will host another winless team in Brentwood, Dec. 22 at 5 p.m.

“My team is very young, so we’re going to work on the basics right now,” Schirmer said. “We face Brentwood next, and it’ll go a lot better than it went today.”

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Ward Melville high school boys’ fencing coach Jeff Salmon with his saberist Solomon after the athlete won the Konin Cadet World Cup in Poland. Photo from Three Village school district

Ward Melville fencer Danny Solomon had to overcome a familiar foe to reach new heights — New Jersey’s Mitchell Saron.

The two faced off on the strip six times prior to the Konin Cadet World Cup in Poland Sept. 25, but Solomon’s record against his opponent was 0-6.

“For the past five or six tournaments we ran into each other — it’s been a major roadblock for me whenever I come up to him,” the saberist said. “I always cracked under pressure, but this time I knew if I stayed calm, that he’d crack this time.”

Danny Solomon reacts after beating Mitchell Saron. Photo from Konin Cadet World Cup
Danny Solomon reacts after beating Mitchell Saron. Photo from Konin Cadet World Cup

Solomon was riding a high that day prior to facing off with is archrival. He tied for first with another American from Colorado at the end of the qualifying round the day before, and cruised past Russian and Polish opponents 15-3, 15-9, 15-8 and 15-3 in the four direct elimination rounds prior to the bout against Saron.

“No one could really touch me,” Solomon said.

He beat Saron 15-13, and finished the day with one final bout, which he won for gold, earning him a No. 1 international ranking in cadet.

“I was ecstatic,” Solomon said of getting past Saron. “I’ve been going to international tournaments for the past three years now and each year I’ve been improving and seeing the older kids doing well. This year, with me being the oldest kid in the category, I wanted to make my mark, and I’ve been training hard for a long time now. It’s good to reap the benefits of my hard work with my victory.”

Solomon has been training with Jeff Salmon of Mission Fencing Center in Rocky Point for five years. Salmon is also his high school fencing coach.

“Danny is an extremely good competitor,” Salmon said. “He takes coaching and direction well. He’s eager to be the best he could be.”

Salmon has worked with plenty of high-ranking fencers, but said he’s never had a gold individual at the world cup level.

“He was extremely focused the whole tournament — from beginning to end,” the coach said of his pupil. “He had his goal in mind and he was doing everything he could to put himself in the best particular place possible, without exception.”

The tournament featured 167 fencers from 16 different countries. Although Solomon has been fencing since sixth grade, he is always seeking to improve. He said intense training went into preparing for the world cup bouts. Salmon said he and his student added several new techniques, and he was happy to see his fencer’s hard work come to fruition.

“You could see the pride,” Salmon said. “He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, and he deserved it.”

The saberist was happy to have his coach at his side.

Danny Solomon and Mitchell Saron compete on the strip. Photo from Konin Cadet World Cup
Danny Solomon and Mitchell Saron compete on the strip. Photo from Konin Cadet World Cup

“He’s really helped me grow, not just as an athlete, but as a person,” he said. “Knowing that he’s experienced and had other people in these types of situations is really comforting.”

Solomon competed in the North American Cup in Detroit this past weekend, and did not have the same success, but finished ninth in cadet, which encompasses all fencers under 17, and ninth in Division I, which is an open category.

“I was hoping to finish close to the top in cadet, but Mitchell edged me out,” Solomon said. “But I’ll learn from it. In the open category, I had blood on my teeth from the day before, so when I got to the Top 16, I was one of the top-seeded people from the qualifying rounds.”

He ended up edging out Saron in Division I that next day.

Solomon is still ranked No. 1 in America, and is third internationally. He said he has enjoyed seeing his progress over the last few years, and is proud to see how the sport has changed him. But for now, he’s just looking forward to the rest of the season.

“When I started fencing I was a short, lanky kid, and now I’ve grown and I’m a tall, lanky kid,” he said, laughing. “But this sport has been amazing to me. It has given me some of my closest friends. It’s opened my horizons to other ways of thinking and showed me that no matter where they come from, no matter what language they speak or how old they are, there’s always a connection between fencers. We love the sport. Now, I’ll just keep training. But this has been a huge confidence booster. ”

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Hanae Wada clashes with her foil opponent. Photo by Bill Landon

By Bill Landon

The Brentwood fencing team was too much for the Huntington Blue Devils to handle, as the boys fell 15-12, and the girls lost 18-9, Monday night.

On the boys’ side, Brentwood dominated Huntington in epée, winning seven of nine bouts, which set the tone for the rest of the match. Notching victory for the Blue Devils in epée was Finn Tucker, who managed to take two out of three, defeating his opponents 5-3 and 5-4 before dropping his third by a single point.

On the girls’ strip, Huntington struggled to fill the card, and forfeited three matches as a result of fencers being ineligible due to practice issues, which, according to Huntington head coach Jillian Melnick, is not uncommon this early in the season.

“We were fencing their best of their best, but unfortunately, not all of our fencers were eligible,” Melnick said, adding that each fencer needs a certain number of practices to qualify for the first meet.

Senior Elisa Medina-Jaudes took two out of three in epée, defeating her opponents 5-3 and 5-4 before she too dropped her third match by a single point.

Jack O’Heir, right, battles his epée opponent. Photo by Bill Landon
Jack O’Heir, right, battles his epée opponent. Photo by Bill Landon

“Brentwood has always been an equal match for us,” Medina-Jaudes said. “We were missing some of our best players, but I think we did well overall. We were able to hold our own, but we struggled without those players.”

Melnick said she is always pleased with her senior’s performance.

“Elisa performed well, as she stayed cool under pressure,” she said. “She’s a leader out there on the strip, where she kept her entire team rooting for one another.”

The boys took foil with a dominant performance by Dylan Collier, who won all three of his bouts 5-2, 5-0 and 5-3. Huntington took the foil card 5-4.

The girls struggled in foil, and managed only three wins to Brentwood’s six. Leading the card for Huntington was Hanae Wada, with two victories, defeating her opponents 5-2 and 5-4, while Sabrina Floro won her match 5-1.

“We did really well considering we didn’t have all of our varsity starters, so we saw new people step up,” Wada said. “We’ve got to work on being more aggressive, but we got a lot of touches today.”

Huntington’s Zach McGinniss won two out of three in sabre, besting his opponents 5-1 and 5-3, dropping his third match 3-5. Brentwood took the boys’ sabre card 5-4.

“Brentwood’s a good team; they’re consistent every year — they have good fencers, and I expected them to bring what they did today,” Huntington senior epéeist Jack O’Heir said. “We didn’t have our full varsity team, but I think each of us performed to our potential.”

Kelly Tenbus won two of her sabre matches, 5-1 and 5-3, and Adina Kirkland won her bout 5-2. But again, Brentwood bested the card, taking sabre 6-3.

“[Brentwood] showed superior technique today,” Melnick said. “We’ll practice in specific bouts where they’ll have to be aggressive in order to get the touch. Some of the kids were nervous and fell back on defense instead of pushing their own offense.”

Senior epéeist Stefano Ornato echoed O’Heir’s sentiment.

“They’re a solid team,” he said of Brentwood. “But missing as many players as we did, I thought we did pretty well with what we had.”

The Blue Devils hit the road for their next match, where they will take on Newfield on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 5 p.m.

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Ward Melville junior Michael Jaklitsch battles a Huntington opponent in a match last season. File photo by Bill Landon

In February of this year, the Ward Melville girls’ and boys’ fencing team swept the Suffolk County championships for the ninth straight season. The boys extended their match streak to 124 with the win, and although the girls had their 195-game streak snapped last year, will look to start a new one as the girls begin the road to what could be their 14th straight Suffolk County crown.

Five senior fencers were sent off to college last year, with Carly Weber-Levine competing at Stanford University, Ilana Solomon playing for Columbia University, Michael Antipas competing at University of Notre Dame, and Angela Zhang and Michael Skolnick fencing for Cornell University and Vassar College, respectively.

Ward Melville junior Lara Obedin fences against a Huntington opponent in a match last season. File photo by Bill Landon
Ward Melville junior Lara Obedin fences against a Huntington opponent in a match last season. File photo by Bill Landon

While the girls lost Solomon, the boys team returns her younger brother, Danny, who is a sophomore this year.

The loss of Antipas will be felt heavily, along with Marc Dalrymple and two other seniors, but the Patriots return a slew of underclassmen looking to fill the shoes of those lost.

Antipas was the last of three family members to fence at the school, and his presence will be missed. He, along with his sisters, Demi and Alexa, combined for a 346-2 varsity record.

The girls lost three other seniors along with Weber-Levine to graduation, but this Patriots team also returns a ton of sophomores and a handful of juniors to the lineup.

The season will test what those underclassmen have learned from some of the greats before them, and the teams will be tested when they travel to Newfield on Wednesday, for the first meet of the season, at 5 p.m.

The teams will host Commack the following day, Dec. 10, at 5 p.m., before competing in a tournament at Brentwood on Dec. 12. The tournament is set to begin at 9 a.m.

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Ward Melville fencers pose for a group photo. Photo from Jeff Salmon

By Clayton Collier

Ward Melville fencing, long-established as the powerhouse program of Long Island, is evidently a fast track to some of the nation’s best colleges as well.

Five members of the Patriots’ fencing programs will continue their playing careers at the collegiate level this fall.

Angela Zhang, Carly Weber-Levine, Michael Skolnick, Ilana Solomon and Michael Antipas will attend Cornell University, Stanford University, Vassar College, Columbia University and the University of Notre Dame, respectively, as members of their schools’ fencing programs.

Ward Melville head coach Jeff Salmon, who has brought the program to eight-straight undefeated seasons, County and Long Island Championships, said the five were the most he’s had recruited in an individual year since he started the program in 1999.

“Athletes come in waves and we happened to have a number of stars graduate this year,” he said. “But I am very proud of how the program has developed and extremely proud of the commitment we’ve seen from our athletes.”

Solomon, who will join the 2015 NCAA Champion Columbia fencing squad, said the winning culture of Ward Melville has prepared her for the challenge ahead, come this winter at Columbia.

“The fencing team provides a unique athletic experience, as it is an individual sport, but we need to win as a team,” said Solomon, a two-time All Long Island sabreuse. “This fosters great support from our peers on the fencing team who get to know how each athlete works under pressure, and the best way to help each individual person do the best she or he can in order to win as a team.”

Antipas, a two-time County Champion foiler, who sports a career 117-1 record, said Salmon, as well as his wife Jennie, who recently retired from coaching, have been instrumental in helping him reach this point.

“They’ve pushed me every step of the way, and made sure at practice I made myself better and gave me advice whenever I wanted it and needed it,” he said. “We have worked on technique together and strategies together and even mental toughness and sharpness.”

Saying goodbye to this bunch will be no easy task for Salmon or girl’s coach Alyssa Lombardi. In addition to Antipas and Solomon. Skolnick, Zhang and Weber-Levine also had plenty on their high-school résumés worth writing home about. Zhang, a foiler, sported a career 128-14 record — a program record — while picking up four First Team All-Long Island selections. Weber-Levine, a saber competitor, was 94-4 in her high school career, a two-time All-County selectee and a 2014 Division 1A National Champion. Skolnick, a foiler, described by Salmon as “clutch” and “strategic,” was All-County his senior year and sported a 27-25 record.

Moving forward without these five will be tough for Salmon, but he said there is still plenty of talent left to fill in the gaps.

“I have a few stars, but they’re younger — some of my best fencers aren’t even my seniors,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it a rebuilding year next year because we’re prepared, but we’re definitely young next year.”

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