The view more photos of the State Prep Track & Field Championships, place visit Mike Scanlan's website.

Coach Jeff Austin's fencing team received third-place individual efforts from Rodrigo Bergamasco (pictured with his coach) in Epee and Idris Mitchell in Sabre. Foilist Nick Walker also contributed in a big way towards the second-place showing by going 6-1 in the C-strip.

Bergamasco is the lone starter who will graduate from a team that went 8-4 during the regular season.

"All-in-all, guys that stepped up when it was needed came from all corners of our squad," said Austin of this year's all-around effort. "I think that made us a solid team - especially considering our youth."

With Austin's re-tooling process nearly complete, expect the Gray Bees to be primed to capture the State Prep title it last won during the coach's first season back in 2007. The youth expected to step up and make an even bigger impact next year are Mitchell, fellow Sabreist Tashon Little, along with foilists Elliot McFarland and Mike Daniel, and captain Darran St. Ange at Epee. This should make St. Benedict's one of the favorites next year to reclaim the now elusive prep title.

"I think this was a season that finally began to show signs of a long rebuilding process coming to fruition," said Austin. "It is our first winning record in three years and we've done it with a young team. The team is serious about growing and about reclaiming the success that Benedict's fencing once had.

"We've had a huge amount of alumni visits throughout the year. (Those) former fencers offered a lot of encouragement and advice and I think that fostered a lot of fire in our bellies to push and push patiently."

FENCING TEAM MAKES QUICK WORK OF MONTCLAIR KIMBERLEY
Swimmers readying for the county championships

Jan. 26, 2010

The Gray Bees fencing team sprinted out of the gate on Tuesday against Montclair Kimberley.

Coach Jeff Austin's club won the first four bouts, which included a sweep by the Sabre contingent, and never look back in posting a 21-6 verdict in Shanley Gym.

"We have a stable lineup right now," said Austin, whose team raised its record to 6-2 by registering the highest point total of the season. It's also the best start Austin '96 has had in his four years as coach - and he has done it with a group that consist of only one senior in the starting lineup.

"We have a very young team that is gaining confidence and one that I'm confident in," said the coach.

Junior Tashon Little started the domination against MKA with a 5-1 victory in the opening bout. The Sabreist was one of five fencers who went 3-0 on the day. But perhaps no one was as dominant - Little, the complete aggressor, gave up just three points the entire day.

Fellow Sabreist and sophomore Jamar Victor also went unbeaten. Foilists Elliot McFarland, another sophomore, and junior Nick Walker, along with junior Epeeist Darran St. Ange, all completed the day with 3-0 marks.

The swimming team traveled to Jersey City to take on St. Peter's in a tune-up for Saturday's Essex County Championships.

The Gray Bees won the medley relay with Mike Ciociola, Gio Urquilla, Ian Brown and Courtney Mosley. The quartet turned in a time of 1:51.47.

Gavin Mulholland (2:09.21) and Brian Baez (2:27.53) established personal bests in the 200-yard freestyle, while Eric Enriquez did likewise in the 200 IM with a 2:25.79; and Kiernan Lenahan posted his best time of :55.84 in the 100 free.

Coach Glenn Cassidy's squad now has its focus set on the county championships, which are set for 9 a.m. Saturday at Seton Hall University. Gio Urquilla is ranked first in the 100-yard breast stroke and second in the 100 freestyle, while the 200-yard freestyle relay team is ranked second.

GRAY BEES FENCERS RECOVER FROM TOUGH LOSS TO POST ANOTHER VICTORY

Jan.22, 2010

Resiliency.

It's the mark of a team that responds to adversity and it seems like it's becoming the rallying cry of St. Benedict's fencing team this year.

Twice the Gray Bees fencers have lost this season and both times coach Jeff Austin's club has rebounded with a solid victory in their next match.

The latest instance came Friday when St. Benedict's posted a resounding, 19-8, victory over Moorestown Friends to lift the Gray Bees' record to 5-2 on the season.

"Even after losses, my guys remain coachable," said Austin, whose team beat Moorestown Friends only 24 hours after suffering a 15-12 setback to Millburn. "We were a little shell-shocked after yesterday, but we got our composure back for today and were ready to compete."

Austin, whose team defeated Hun after a rough defeat at the swords of Gov. Livingston earlier in the season, is not only pleased about they way his team responds after losses, but he is also happy about how a number of his fencers are able to heed their coach's advice and turn things around immediately after a shaky bout.

Such was the case for juniors Tashon Little and Darren St. Ange, who each lost their first bout by a 5-4 margin against Moorestown Friends. But, instead of letting that impede their next foray onto the strip, both came around to score big victories.

Little, who lead off the match with a one-point loss in Sabre, posted a huge 5-2 triumph in the 12th bout that helped stem the tide after his team suffered through four straight defeats and gave the Gray Bees a 7-5 cushion. He won his last bout by an identical score to finish the day at 2-1.

St. Ange, an Epeeist, exacted revenge in his second bout by posting a 5-0 whitewash and wound up giving up only one point after his opening loss.

"I get a lot of great responses for the advice I offer," said Austin '96, an accomplished fencer in his days at The Hive when he won 3 state championships. "That means they are listening, thinking on their feet, and learning how to improve."

Lefty Idris Mitchell, a junior, also put a loss behind him from a previous bout when he posted a 5-0 victory at Sabre during the third round and helped St. Benedict's lock up the victory with a 14-7 cushion.

Notes: Sophomore Elliot McFarland led a strong Foil effort (7-2) by going unbeaten in three bouts, while captain Rodrigo Bergamasco, one of only two seniors in Austin's arsenal, went 2-0 in Epee. He gave way in the third round to freshman Jongwan Kagabo, who walked away with a victory in one of his few bouts this year.

Little, St. Ange, Mitchell, Jamar Victor, Mike Daniel and Nick Walker all went 2-1 on the day.

--By Ron Jandoli

ST. BENEDICT'S TRACK & FIELD TEAM HIGHLIGHT BUSY SPORTS WEEKEND AT THE HIVE
Swimming and hoop teams victorious on the road; fencers compete in Cetrulo Tourney
Wrestling team suffers tough loss at home

Jan. 10, 2010

The Gray Bees Indoor Track & Field team scored a huge upset by winning the Essex County Relays on Sunday at Seton Hall University.

St. Benedict's finished first in the 4x200-meter relay, the team high jump and team shot put to score a dramatic 47-46 victory over West Orange. Matt Taylor, Leighton Smith, Kalonji Foster and Martin Otieno led the 800 to a winning time of 1:33.25, edging Irvington by .36 of a second.

The high jump pair of Kenyon Wright and Kalonji Foster posted a combined winning height of 11-6, while Ryan Rhodes (a meet best 48-10) and Nigil Whyte (45-10 1/4) fashioned a cumulative mark of 94-81/2 to claim top honors in the shot put. Read more...

Coach Glenn Cassidy's swimming team also pulled off a stunning victory on Saturday over Poly Prep after defeating the Hun School on Friday.

The Gray Bees swimmers traveled to Brooklyn and handed Poly Prep its first setback of the season by pulling out a 49-45 victory. The victory wasn't realized until a scoring error was caught, which turned what Cassidy thought was a loss into a victory.

"There was a mistake in the relay scoring," explained Cassidy. "We thought we lost (the meet) by 2 until their coach noticed the mistake."

St. Benedict's (2-2) got of to a slow start and was trailing until the sixth event when Charles Blackshear-Evans won the 100-yard freestyle with his best time of the year with a clocking of :57.53.

Courtney Mosley won the 50 free in :24.59 and Giovanni Urquilla won the 500 free, touching the wall in 5:30.82. The two also combined with Michael Ciociola, Blackshear-Evans to help the 200 freestyle relay produce an exciting finish with Blackshear-Evans out-touching the Poly Prep team by .01 second and won the race for the Gray Bees in a time of 1:40.81. That was the race where the scoring error was made before being corrected at the end.

Coach Cassidy's team also won the day before with is most solid effort of the year, beating Hun, 124-41. The Gray Bees dominated in its own pool and won all but two events and swept all three places in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 fly. Courtney Mosley won the 50 free in :24.15, while Ian Brown won the 100 fly in 1:01.80.

The basketball team played in the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children Festival at Kean University and rolled 95-63 victory over Our Savior of New York on Sunday in Union.

Myck Kabongo, who had a team-high 19 points, sank back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 15-3 run that gave St. Benedict's a 34-16 edge early in the second quarter.

Kabongo also handed out six assists, while Gilvydas Biruta added 18 points, Mike Poole chipped in with 17 and Xavier Munford added 10.

The St. Benedict's fencing team traveled to Morris Knolls to compete in the 45-team Cetrulo tournament on Saturday in Rockaway.

Coach Jeff Austin's Epee contingent of Rodrigo Bergamasco (A Strip), Darran St. Ange (B Strip) and Kristopher White (C Strip) combined to take place sixth placed for the Gray Bees best showing of the tournament.

The wrestling team staged its first home dual meet of the year and hung tough throughout, but dropped the final four bouts and lost a 43-25 decision to Seton Hall Prep on Saturday in Dalton Gym. Read more...

ST. BENEDICT'S POSTS ITS SECOND STRAIGHT TRIUMPH TO START THE SEASON
McFarland sparks decisive surge for the Gray Bees

Jan. 6, 2010

Elliott McFarland tries keeping negative thoughts from entering his mindset in each of his bouts during a fencing match.

But with St. Benedict's down by three against Princeton Day School on Wednesday, McFarland admitted that it wasn't so easy to do when he stepped to the strip for his first bout of the day - especially with creeping thoughts of losing in his first clash only two days earlier.

McFarland, however, managed to post the crucial first victory that ignited St. Benedict's to a 16-11 victory over PDS in Shanley Gymnasium.

"The more I think about my match before I go out there, the worse I usually do," said McFarland, who lost his first bout in the Gray Bees season-opening victory over St. Peter's Prep. "But I started thinking about the other day and didn't want that to repeat itself. So, I just tried to put it out of my mind the best I could. I was glad I could come through for my team."

McFarland's 5-2 victory as the A Strip Foilist sent the Gray Bees on a five-bout winning streak. Mike Daniel followed McFarland's triumph by rallying from a 4-1 deficit to win his bout, 5-4, also in Foil.

When Epeeist Darran St. Ange's posted a 5-2 victory in the eighth bout, coach Jeff Austin's club was now ahead, 5-3, giving the Gray Bees a lead it would never relinquish.

"I knew I had to pick it up for the team," McFarland said of his first of three bout victories on the day. "I just wanted to start stronger than the other day and get us going."

Coach Austin didn't seem too concerned with his team's slow start after falling into a 3-0 hole to begin the match.

"I knew we had the guys in the pocket that would get the job done," said Austin. "We have a team with a lot of fight and great mentality this year. That's why I'm not too concerned when we start off as badly as we did today."

McFarland, a sophomore, who also clinched the match with his final victory in the 23rd bout, raised his record to 5-1 on the young season as the Gray Bees went to 2-0, both coming in Shanley Gym.

Epeeists and co-captains, St. Ange (6-0) and Rodrigo Bergamasco (5-0), both remained unbeaten thus far, while Tashon Little is 5-1 in Sabre.

"We might have had some really good fencers last year," said McFarland, "but this year, we compliment each other more and I think that makes us a better team."

St. Benedict's returns to action this Saturday (Jan. 9) in the Cetrulo Tournament, one of the biggest statewide events of the year, at Morris Knolls High School in Rockaway.

--By Ron Jandoli

TRACK, FENCING TEAMS OPEN YEAR ON THE RIGHT PATH

Jan. 4, 2010

The St. Benedict's track and fencing teams got the New Year off to a good start.

The winter track and field team competed in the New Jersey Catholic Track Conference Relays and came away with four winning efforts at the 168th Street Armory on Sunday in New York.

Coach Marty's Hannon's 4x200-meter relay team established a meet record with a time of 1:30.4. Matt Taylor, Leighton Smith, Kalonji Foster and Martin Otieno combined to set the new standard.

Otieno and Smith also helped the Gray Bees win the sprint medley, while Foster was part of the winning high jump tandem.

Otieno and Smith joined forces with Walter Jean-Jacques and John Joseph to win the sprint medley with a time of 3:39.8. Foster, who leaped 5-8, and Kenyon Wright (5-10) helped St. Benedict's share first placed honors in the high jump with Bishop Eustace as both teams fashioned combined, 11-6, marks.

Ryan Rhodes paced the shot put team to the title with a joint effort of 139-3 1/4. Rhodes heaved the shot 47-2 1/4, just 2 1/4 inches further than teammate Nigil Whyte. Olu Ijandipo completed the triumvirate with a throw of 45-1.

Coach Jeff Austin's Fencing team opened the season at home in Shanley Gym and posted a resounding, 21-6, verdict over St. Peter's Prep.

Co-captains Rodrigo Bergamasco and Darren St. Ange both led the charge by going undefeated in Epee.

The Gray Bees' A, B and C Sabre strips also went unbeaten on the day. That contingent consisted of Tashon Little, Idris Mitchell and Jamar Victor.

The fencers return to action tomorrow (Jan. 6) against Princeton Day School. Action starts at 4:15 p.m. in Shanley Gym, so come out and support the Gray Bees.