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04/03/2014 12:00 AMThe Guilford fencing team used its home field to its full advantage all regular season long and that home cooking served up a few state crowns come postseason time.
After a regular campaign that saw all six Indians' squads go undefeated as hosts, Guilford then hosted the Team State Championships on March 8. With five teams in the girls' foil, épée, and sabre, plus the boys' foil and sabre that qualified for that event (all of which went in seeded either second or first), the girls' foil and épée groups earned state crowns to give the girls their second overall state title in three years.
"For us, it's always a goal to win a state championship, and this year was special because states were held at home this year," said Head Coach Kyle Mezzi, who was assisted by John Kennedy. "The boys came up a little bit short in not qualifying all three teams to states, but the girls definitely accomplished it. We also had the goal of using our home field advantage during the season, and we did that with both the boys and girls. Past those, we had the goal of just getting better over the course of the season and performing better at the end of the year than at the beginning. We did that and that's a credit to the kids' hard work."
The squad was led by a pair of third-year varsity starters and senior captains in foilist Charlotte Killiam (First Team All-State) and utility man Niall Kneerim, and each did their job in leading the team on and off the mats by both word and example.
"Niall is so experienced. He also helped out the younger épée squad. He was so comfortable in different situations and a much-focused kid," said Mezzi. "Charlotte is also dedicated, and she was willing to do the extra work to get better each day and the other things that go beyond team leadership that come with being captain."
Rounding out the productive senior class were foilist/sabrist Ben Eng, epeeist Bronwyn Reeve (First Team All-State), foilist Kate Macy, sabre competitor Kate McNamara (Second Team All-State), and Kate Nolan. Mezzi praised this quintet for keeping their cool in the heat of battle.
"Ben was the kind of kid that does everything for you; he was asked to fence all three disciplines in one day this season," said Mezzi. "Bronwyn repeated her First Team All-State bid form sophomore year, and she is just comfortable, calm, and collected in all situations. Kate Macy worked hard for four years and put her best foot forward this year. Kate McNamara took the role of sabre to heart and didn't look back, and Kate Nolan was very poised and that goes a long way. They have done things that the underclassmen can learn from."
The remainder of the Indians' All-State fencers included First Team members of foilists Kyle Evered, Laurel Zhang, and Jack Davidson, along with Second Team sabre combatants Sophie Kaplan and Zach O' Conner, plus foilist Henry Wall.
In addition to the girls' state championship, Mezzi points out a big achievement of the entire group was when it got hot at the right time in earning a clean sweep versus rival North Haven on Feb. 20 before dominating Greenwich and Hopkins two days later.
"Probably our best night was versus North Haven, which is our biggest rival, and each of our squads beat them-something I can't recall ever happening," said Mezzi. "Three of the matches were 5-4, so they could've gone either way, but the kids dug deep. They did a good job of staying composed versus the one team you look forward to all year. Then that weekend, we had two big wins with the girls defeating Greenwich, 23-4, and the boys over Hopkins, 20-7. We felt we made a statement for the state championships there."
Like any high school team, seniors will depart to make way for underclassmen to fill those holes. Repeating as champion can be a tall task, although, the Indians are ready for the challenge.
"We return a very strong junior class, especially on the boys' side, so hopefully they will be a strong senior class and the core of our team," said Mezzi. "We return all three boys' foil starters that lost a close state final at team states, so they will be hungry. We also have kids coming up in épée and sabre and youth will be important in learning a new discipline. The girls graduate five seniors, but we had great contributions from the other three classes, so I'm excited. Winning a state title is tough, but it's tougher to repeat, yet we have a lot of great kids here."
For final squad records on the boys' side, foil (2nd at states) was 13-1, épée went 4-4, and sabre (4th at states) finished 3-8; with the girls, foil was perfect at 14-0, épée saw a 9-2 mark, and sabre (3rd for states) finished 8-2.