The Columbia boys fencing team fell on the right side of a tiebreaker against Montclair on Saturday at the Cetrulo Tournament at Morris Knolls High School, and claimed the tournament championship for the first time since 2007.

Columbia finished with 26 points, tied with Montclair for first, but won the tiebreaker because of finishing in first place in the foil, behind a tremendous effort from defending state champion Brian Kaneshige.

Against Hunterdon Central, Kaneshige was handed a 10-1 deficit, in a rally scoring format. The and b strip fencers had managed just one touch combined in the first two matches. However, Columbia's a-striper was up to the challenge, and out-touched his opponent 12-2 in three minutes, to come away with the 13-12 team win.

"What he did was almost superhuman," said Columbia boys head coach George Janto. "It was electric. This was like being down by four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning with two men out. …I think he inspired the team, without his efforts, we wouldn't have won."

Along with Kaneshige, Geoff Marino's 12-2 record along with a good performance from Falcon Reese on the C-strip, helped propel the Cougars in the foil. In the sabre, Connor Thompson went 9-3, and he along with Stowe Hammarberg and Andrew Kelly led Columbia to an eighth finish, and the epee team ended in 17^th place, behind Evan Accardi and Matt Gibson.

"Some of our kids really reached down and fenced better than I believe their history would say they could," Janto said.

On the girls side on Sunday in the Santelli Tournament at Voorhees High School, they took first place in the sabre, behind defending state sabre champion Faizah Muhammed's performance. The sabre squad went 6-1 overall, the epee team finished fifth and the foil was in ninth place. Despite strong finishes from the girls in the events, they were beat out for first place by Montgomery, which had a first place epee team and second place foil.

"For the most part I think the girls were a little disappointed. We were hoping to win," said Columbia girls head coach Ibtihaj Muhammad. "We weren't able to pull it off this year, but I couldn't have asked them to fence any better."

The Cougars had won the last five Santelli Tournaments and nine out of the last 12, before scoring 15 points on Sunday for second.

Being that nearly every fencing team in the state was at either the boys or the girls tournaments, how a team does in the Cetrulo or Santelli has bearing on rankings, seeding and perception around the state.

For the boys, a close battle with Montclair for a district and conference championship should be expected throughout the season. Coach Janto said that he expects a dog fight, and considering that the Cougars have already defeated the third place team in the Cetrulo Tournament, Voorhees, it seems safe to say that it's a two horse race at this point.

The Columbia girls are still considered among the top teams in the state, but maybe not the absolute best. Ibtihaj said that she does not expect any team on their dual meet schedule to get a win off of them, so they're just focused on getting to states and proving that they are the top team, not Montgomery.