Sports

Columbia Fencing Team Takes State Tournament

Columbia High School came in first place in both the Santelli Tournament for girls and Cetrulo Tournament for boys.

The Columbia High School Men's and Women's Fencing teams came in first place in the 2014 Santelli Tournament for girls and Cetrulo Tournament for boys, Saturday, according to an nj.com report.

The Tournament, held at the Morristown Armory in Morristown, ended with Columbia in first place overall, out of 44 New Jersey High Schools.

Columbia earned gold medals in foil, a silver in sabre and a seventh-place finish in epee to edge second-place Bernards by two points to earn its first Santelli title since 2009. The win was also the school’s fourth Cetrulo title in five years and marked the sixth time in the team’s history it has earned the overall gold medal, the report said.

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“Every weapon, every member of this team stepped up today,” Columbia Women's Fencing coach Ibtihaj Muhammad told nj.com. “No team in the state prepares as hard as these fencers prepare. The conditioning, the hard work, in tournaments like this, that all comes out and you can see the effort that these fencers put in to succeed.”

“These kids practice all year, they work hard,” Columbia Men's Fencing Coach Daryll White said. “We gauge our practices with this tournament in mind. This is just as much a test of skill as it is an endurance test. We have drills just to prepare for a long day like today. They prepare as a team. They work hard, they are together, they never get down, they are just a real gritty group.”

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