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North Branford Fencing Gaining Experience After Competive Tri-Meet with Cheshire, Hand

On Jan. 12, Cheshire hosted a fencing tri-meet with North Branford and Hand. The Thunderbirds displayed a great performance, especially for a young, inexperienced team.

In the Men’s epee vs. Cheshire, the T-Birds went 4-5, (30-37 touches scored). In the Men’s epee vs. Hand, they posted a 1-8 record (21-41 touches scored).

Rookie first years Gavin Traill and Santino Carbon held their own in their first bouts against Hand fencers. Junior Josh Dion posted a 2-4 record, including North Branford’s one victory (5-1) against Hand.

First year rookies Atum Colon and Caleb Baxter came away with 2-1 and 1-2 records, respectively, with Baxter falling one point short of a deciding victory against Cheshire.

First year Abigail Crane took home her first career victory in Women’s epee, though Crane and Gwen Leonard faced very tough competition against experienced teams from both Hand (0-9, of which 3 were forfeits, 8-30 touches scored) and Cheshire (1-8, with 3 forfeits, 20-27 touches scored).

The two women’s epeeists, cheered on by redshirted teammate Jayden Rivera, fought intense, scrappy bouts against significantly more experienced opponents. From Head Coach Carrington Ward’s perspective, especially given the touches scored in all of their bouts, North Branford’s women are better than they think they are. Confidence definitely had an impact in many of their contested matches.

North Branford’s women can expect significant improvement as first year Rivera begins to spar and compete with the team, and as they gain increased experience.