Printer Friendly Version - Morgan Fencing Club Thrives in First Year

Fencers Andrew Tran, Stephen Barnett, Daniel Ayotte, Patrick McAllister, Nola Neri, Ryan Caprio, Caleigh Heske, Erin Barnett, Andrew Tessman, and Jon Chann make up the Morgan club team that formed this winter and hopes to become a varsity program next year.

After such a successful and dedicated first year, the Morgan fencing club team may get its wish and earn its fencers a varsity letter next winter after being formally recognized as a club team this season, especially after a third place finish from the boys' foil squad at the Team State Championship on March 9.

The program has seven boys and three girls competing and team members include juniors Patrick McAllister, Stephen Barnett, Ryan Caprio, and Jon Chann; sophomores Andrew Tran, Erin Barnett, and Daniel Ayotte; and freshmen Andrew Tessman, Nola Neri, and Caleigh Heske. Started by former Guilford fencer Jim Barnett, the Huskies boast 13 fencers and four of those fencers-McAllister, Barnett, Caprio, and Chann-have been practicing together and learning their craft for two years before gathering a larger group this year for the five-day-a-week practices that are held in Morgan's cafeteria.

Primarily competing in foil for this year, the Huskies emerged as the No. 1 novice team in the state and competed against such powerhouses as Guilford, Hand, Waterford, North Haven, and Berlin. The boys ended up with a 5-3 record, while the girls-who competed on a novice-JV schedule-ended the season 8-2.

In the novice tournament, Tran took eighth place out of 90 fencers and, earlier this month, the team competed at Hopkins University for the Individual State Championships, where each team can enter its top three fencers and there are fencers representing 46 schools in the state. Morgan entered McAllister (who finished 46th out of 84 fencers), Caprio (28th place), and Barnett (4th place and named All-State), which qualified the team to be entered in the Team Championships at North Haven on March 9 after being ranked seventh out of 23 squads.

"For us to make it in our first year is a huge accomplishment," said Coach Barnett. "We will try to make a presentation to the AD as these boys that have been with me have worked so hard and are so dedicated so I want to try to convince them to make it a varsity sport."

The Morgan boys' squad ended up taking the third place trophy at the team state meet. The team was led by Stephen Barnett with an 8-1 record for the day. Also fencing were Caprio, Chann, and McAllister. The Huskies went into the day as the No. 7 seed and had to fence No. 2 Guilford-the defending state champion in boys' foil. Morgan ended up beating Guilford 5-3 as Barnett went 3-0 against the Indians and Chann won the deciding bout 5-3.

In the second round, the Huskies fenced Greenwich and lost a close match 5-4. Greenwich ended up winning the championship by beating Norwich Free Academy in the third round.

The third round which was the fence-off for third and fourth place as Morgan faced Griswold and won the match 5-2. Barnett went 3-0 and McAllister went 2-0.