FENCERS PICK UP HUGE WIN HEADING INTO THE POSTSEASON
Wrestlers have confidence up after weekend effort in D.C.

Feb. 15, 2011

The fencing team finally put up the performance coach Jeff Austin has been looking for and telling anyone who would listen that his team was capable of all season.

And it couldn't have come at a better time.

The Gray Bees carved out an impressive 16-11 victory over Millburn, ranked No. 6 in New Jersey, and head into next week's State Prep Championships with a plethora of confidence.

"This is what I knew my guys could do all season," beamed Austin after the match. "A lot of guys finally found their rhythm and fenced the way I've been expecting."

The Gray Bees (11-3), after an even opening round, ran roughshod over Millburn in the second round, winning all but one bout, and cruised into the third session with a commanding 12-6 cushion.

Austin's club wrapped up the match with four bouts to go when Foilist Mike Daniel posted a 5-1 victory to give the Gray Bees a 14-9 lead.

The complete, all-around team effort was led by Sabreist Idris Mitchell, who went 3-0. Fellow Sabreist Tashon Little, foilists Elliott McFarland, Daniel and Nick Walker, along with Epeeists Khris White and Darran St. Ange, all went 2-1 on the day.

The Gray Bees now have a week to prepare for next Wednesday's (Feb. 23) State Prep Championships at Princeton Day School.

"If we fence the same way, we will be unbeatable," proclaimed a confident Austin. "The layoff until the preps will only help us continue to work on the little things we did wrong (against Millburn)."

FENCERS END SKID; LOOKING TOWARD THE HOME STRETCH

Feb. 11, 2011

The Gray Bees fencing team unequivocally put to rest a short-lived two-match losing streak.

Coach Jeff Austin's team, which lost a pair of one-point decisions last week, came back this week and reeled off two straight successes to get back untracked.

St. Benedict's went out Thursday and won the last 14 bouts to post a 24-3 victory over West Windsor-Plainsboro South before coming back Friday and fashioning a thrilling, 15-12, verdict over Don Bosco Prep.

"After a couple losses, we knew we needed to come out and fence much stronger," said Idris Mitchell. "I think we did that and hopefully for us can continue winning until the season ends."

Despite the victories in Shanley Gymnasium, especially the back-and-forth match against Don Bosco, which had three lead changes, Austin still feels his team still hasn't reached its overall potential.

"We haven't had the defining moment I'm waiting for," said Austin. "We can be a sensational team. We are deep and determined but are under-performing, in both wins and losses. The bar stays high regardless."

Although Austin has his concerns, he has to be proud of his team's fight against Don Bosco. They Gray Bees got off to an extremely slow start in the first round, trailing 6-3.

But a sweep in Sabre, which saw Idris Mitchell and Tashon Little pull off 5-4 victories, and two 5-2 decisions by Nick Walker and Elliott McFarland in Foil, gave the Gray Bees its first lead, 8-7. By the time the second round was over, the two teams were locked in a 9-9 standoff.

The Gray Bees fell behind once again to open the third, but unlike one-point, 14-13 losses to Lawrenceville and West Windsor North last week, the Gray Bees showed the fortitude to overcome adversity.

Austin's club reeled off four straight victories and grabbed a 13-10 lead, but with one more bout triumph needed to seal the win, a resilient Don Bosco won two straight to close the gap to 13-12.

That's when a struggling Khris White stepped to the strip in the penultimate bout. The senior, however, didn't show any of the anxiety that has been plaguing the A-strip Epeeist the last couple weeks.

White put forth a dominating 5-2 effort, which was followed by the same score and victory in the final bout by Darran St. Ange, which lifted the Gray Bees to its 10th victory of the year.

"It's feels good," said White. "Lately I've been having confidence problems but there was no way I was going to let my team down, especially against Don Bosco. Hopefully, this will get me back into it mentally."

The Gray Bees, which received 3-0 efforts from Mitchell (Sabre) and Nick Walker (Foil) against Don Bosco, have one regular season match left before competing in the state Prep Championships on Feb. 23.

"Our confidence was boosted a bit, but I'm holding out for the all-around dominance I believe we have," said Austin. "When the psychology clicks, we will be awesome. I'm working towards this happening before preps."

--By Ron Jandoli

GRAY BEES HAVE TOPSY-TURVY WEEKEND

Feb. 6, 2011

The Gray Bees wrestling team highlighted the weekend sports scene with "Senior Day" on Saturday in Dalton Gymnasium.

A nice crowd showed up to pay tribute to St. Benedict's seniors, Chris Dowdy, Vinnie Bellaran, Isaiah Cromwell, Chris Reynolds, Kevin Gil, Josue Del Rios and Bobby Bah.

Click here to read more and watch video as Bellaran took down the seventh-ranked wrestler in New Jersey.

Ben Villaret, a post-grad wrestler, was at Lafayette College over the weekend and came away with the title at 165 pounds in the 14th Annual Doug Cherry Invitational.

The Track & Field Team competed at the Jersey Armory on Sunday and placed second in the New Jersey Catholic Conference Championships.

Edward Cheserek won a pair of events, including establishing a meet record in the 1,600-meter run. Cheserek shaved 3 seconds off the standard in the 1,600 with a time of 4:16.82 and also won 3,200 in 9:12.62, nearly 35 seconds better than the runner-up and the top time in the nation this season.

Cheserek, also ran a 51.9 anchor leg on the Gray Bees' third-place 4x400-meter relay team, while Ryan Rhodes (49-8 1/2) grabbed a second-place finish in the Shot Put.

Also scoring for coach Marty Hannon's team, which finished behind CBA in the team standings, 113-62, were Tahlief Jackson (4th in the 1,000: 2:39.35), Garland Miller (4th in the 1,600: 4:32.48), Kalonji Foster (3rd in the 55 hurdles: 7.88), Darien Edwards (5th in 55 hurdles 8.21), Kenyon Wright (4th in the high jump: 6-0) and the 3,200 relay team (5th in 8:47.77).

The hoop team opened the weekend with a trip to Baltimore on Friday night and put forth one of their better efforts of the season.

Philip Nolan was among three players in double figures with 10 points, but he also added 7 rebounds and 3 blocks to spark the Gray Bees effort during a 64-54 victory over St. Frances Academy, which came into the contest with a 17-3 record.

SBP also received 12 points from Vaughn Gray, 11 points from Tyler Harris and 8 points and 6 assists from Tyler Ennis.

All, however, wasn't good for coach Roshown McLeod's team. The Gray Bees came back on Sunday and lost to Plymouth Whitemarsh in the Battle by the Bay in Atlantic City.

The team from Pennsylvania connected on a three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to post a 59-56 verdict. Harris paced the Gray Bees with 18 points and 8 rebounds, while Ennis added 12 points and Gray chipped in with 11.

The fencing team, which eked out a 14-13 verdict over Newark Academy in its previous match, lost by the same score against Lawrenceville on Saturday in Mercer County.

Idris Mitchell and Jamar Victor, both Sabreists, were the only two fencers to go unbeaten on the day for coach Jeff Austin's team. Nick Walker, at Foil, was the only other member of the team to boost a wining record on the day.

The Gray Bees lost for just the second time in 10 matches this year - both losses coming via a 14-13 score.

FENCERS STAVE OFF UPSET BID BY NEWARK ACADEMY
St. Ange wins final bout to rescue SBP

Feb. 3, 2011

The Gray Bees fencing team built two huge leads against Newark Academy only to find themselves in a dogfight up to the match's concluding bout.

Captain Darran St. Ange, however, wasn't about to let his teammates down and posted a victory in final set-to and rescued a reeling Gray Bees team, which held on for a 14-13 verdict Wednesday in Shanley Gymnasium.

"We fenced one of our worst matches and had enough firepower to still steal a victory," said a disappointed St. Benedict's coach Jeff Austin after the match. "Our guys know that we need to do better to collect more wins next week."

The Gray Bees (8-1), which have four matches scheduled in the next 7 days, had built leads of 9-4 and 13-9. But Newark Academy battled back each time, including winning four straight before St. Ange was forced into a do-or-die situation in the match's final foray at Epee.

St. Ange, who split his first two bouts on the day, quelled Newark Academy's momentum and pulled off the victory for the Gray Bees by scoring the first three touches of the bout before posting a 5-3 triumph.

"Darran didn't do more than what we needed to inch ahead and avoid an upset," said Austin. "I certainly believe we are a better team than what we were against Newark Academy, but we remembered that at the last second and Darran acted on it."

Whereas, most of the Gray Bees team struggled, Sabreists Tashon Little, Idris Mitchell and Jamar Victor were the constants in the match. The trio gave the Grays Bees leads of 3-0 and 8-4 by sweeping all six of their bouts over the first two go-rounds.

Little and Mitchell wound up with perfect 3-0 slates on the day and Victor posted a 2-1 mark. Nick Walker in Foil and St. Ange also registered 2-1 records, while Elliott McFarland and Khris White had very uncharacteristic winless slates on the day.

"Tashon and Idris offset the fluke bad day had by Elliot and Khris," said Austin. "They are solid performers (and) capable of fencing without succumbing to the pressure."

To view more photos of the fencing match, please visit Dr. Dennis Lansang's website.

URQUILLA LEADS A GREAT EFFORT BY SWIMMERS IN COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Showing caps a busy sports weekend for Gray Bee athletes

Jan. 23, 2011

Gio Urquilla was so sick on Friday night that he had to be scratched from a race for the Gray Bees swim team.

"I was mad at myself, but I knew I could make up for it," said Urquilla, who blamed his sickness from eating too much before the Gray Bees 89-81 setback to Pennington. "I owed it to my teammates to get ready mentally and physically. So I settled down that night and relaxed."

Less than 24 hours after getting nauseous, Urquilla was back in the pool on Saturday and competing in the Essex County Championships.

The senior, who last year became the first Gray Bees swimmer to hold a county title since Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones dominated in 2002, claimed two more Essex crowns in the pool at Seton Hall University.

Urquilla, who doubled in last year's county's by claiming the 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke, won the 50-yard freestyle this time around by swimming a personal-best 22.64. He was the lone swimmer to break the 23-second mark.

He then went out later in the meet and swam a 50-split of 21.97 as the anchor for the Gray Bees 200-yard freestyle victory in 1:33.67. Dennis Tassie, Gavin Mulholland and Kieran Lenahan joined Urquilla in SBP's upset over Seton Hall, which was kept from sweeping all three relays in the meet for the first time since 2006.

The victory in the relay, a time that beat their previous personal best by two seconds, was the first relay crown won by the Gray Bees since Jones anchored the same race back in '02. Jones is still the country record holder in the 50-free with a 21.17.

Jones, in fact, sent a text to coach Glenn Cassidy congratulating Urquilla and the team of their efforts afterwards.

"I'm so happy because I got my best times and I helped my school win a relay for the first time in nine years," said Urquilla in an interview with The Star-Ledger. He also took second place in the 100-free with another personal best (49.75).

Urquilla, Tassie, Mulholland and Lenahan also took third in the 400-yard relay with a clocking of 3:29.60.

The Gray Bees finished fourth in the team scores, just 1 1/2 points behind Millburn for third place. All told, Cassidy's club posted 29 personal records out of 40 swims, which is incredible considering most of the same swimmers established records the day before against Pennington.

"I was hopeful that we would have a great day, but even I wasn't prepared for everything that the kids accomplished," praised Cassidy. "Many of the times they were trying to beat were the ones they set the day before. To see times drop on both days is crazy."

The track team was up in Connecticut competing in the Yale Invitational on Friday and Saturday and had both Tahlief Jackson and All-American Edward Cheserek in the lineup for the first time this winter.

The Gray Bees were expecting a much better outcome for its Distance Medley and 4x800-meter relay teams. But coach Marty Hannon called it a "learning experience."

The DMR team finished fourth in 10:28.50 with Tahlief Jackson (3:12.1 in the 1,200), Kalonji Foster (52.1, 400), Garland Miller (2:03.5 for 800) and Cheserek (4:19.2, mile) carrying the baton on Friday.

On Saturday, the same contingent came back in the 4x800 and picked up another fourth-place effort with an 8:05.24. Cheserek ran an anchor leg of 1:52.5 in that race.

The basketball team was in West Virginia over the weekend and split a pair of games in the Prime Time Shootout. The Grays Bees dropped a 62-49 effort on Friday to Florida's Arlington Country Day, USA Today's 15th-ranked team in the nation.

Coach Roshown McLeod's team, which combined for only 6 assists in the opener, came back on Saturday and put forth a much better team effort in beating Huntington Prep, 62-53.

Jamel Artis led four players in double figures with a season-high 17 points. Tyler Ennis also posted a season-best with 15 points, while Jaylen Reid and Philip Nolan hit for 11 points apiece. Nolan's trey with 3:21 left in the game gave the Gray Bees the lead for good at 51-49.

The Gray Bees fencing team got the sports action going over the weekend with a convincing, 20-7, victory over Moorestown Friends on Friday in Shanley Gym.

Tashon Little, Idris Mitchell and Jamar Victor opened the match with three straight victories in Sabre and wound up with a combined 8-0 ledger on the day.

Mike Daniel and Nick Walker in Foil, and Khris White in Epee, also went unbeaten for SBP, which upped its record to 6-1 on the year.

The wrestling team has a busy weekend, traveling to Pennsylvania on Friday for a tri-match before headed to Baltimore to compete in the Gilman Duals. Read more...

FENCING TEAM VICTORIOUS IN HOME OPENER IN SHANLEY GYM
Hoopsters beat team from Canada in Dan Finn Memorial Classic
Swimming, Track and Wrestling teams also in action

Jan. 15, 2011

The Gray Bees fencers may not have taken Hun too seriously and lost a tough decision the last time the team from Princeton visited Shanley Gymnasium.

St. Benedict's coach Jeff Austin, however, wasn't about to let his team to overlook the same opponent again.

"I told my guys Hun would make up for lack of skill with a lot of heart," explained Austin of his pre-match advice. "It was frustrating the last time they were here and I didn't want us to make the same mistakes again."

The Gray Bees heeded their coach's advice and came out focused and never relented in Hun's return visit to Shanley and posted a convincing 20-7 verdict last Friday.

In their first home match of the season, the Gray Bees won the first four bouts of the day and nine of the first 10. Austin's Sabre contingent went 8-1 on the day, the Epee team boosted a 7-2 mark, while the Foilists fashioned a 5-4 record.

Idris Mitchell (pictured) spearheaded Sabreists with a 3-0 mark, the same record posted by Khris White in Epee and Elliott McFarland in Foil. Also going unbeaten on the day were Jamar Victor (2-0) and Tashon Little (1-0) in Sabre, and Darren Sr. Ange (2-0) in Epee.

The basketball team competed in the Dan Finn Memorial Classic on Saturday and put forth a solid defensive effort in besting Canada's Next Level Prep, 66-39, at the Jersey City Armory.

Tyler Harris hit for 12 points and pulled down 6 rebounds for St. Benedict's (7-5), which stretched six-point first quarter lead into a 31-21 spread by the halftime break. Philip Nolan and Jaylen Reid also had 6 boards, while Vaughn Gray chipped in with 8 points.

The Gray Bees will now have a few days to prepare for Florida's Arlington Country Day, the 17th-ranked team in the country, in the Prime-Time Shootout on Friday evening in West Virginia.

The Gray Bees swimming team ended a long layoff and competed in their first competition in 2011 and wound up 7th in the Pirate Invitational at The Bubble in West Windsor on Saturday.

Coach Glenn Cassidy's club, which hadn't competed since beating Horace Mann on Dec. 14, was led once again by Gio Urquilla.

Urquilla, the reigning Essex County champion in the 100-frestyle and 100-breakstroke - the first Gray Bees swimmer to hold a county crown since Olympic Gold Medalist Cullen Jones dominated in 2002 - scored points for his team by placing second in the 50-yard freestyle and 6th 100-yard backstroke.

The senior also help the 200-yard freestyle relay team place third. He was joined by Dennis Tassie, Gavin Mulholland and Andrew Caetano. The same tandem also placed 5th in the medley relay.

Coach Marty Hannon's track & field team traveled to the Stanner Games in The Bronx on Saturday and competed in their final event without the services of All-American Edward Cheserek and Tahlief Jackson.

Shot putter Ryan Rhodes led the Gray Bees effort by placing second with a heave of 51-1 in the Invitational finals, while Kenyon Wright placed third in the high jump with a leap of 6-2. Wright, who was joined by Kalonji Foster, Okhumale Igeter and Tyler Cooper, also anchored the third-place effort by the 4x200-meter relay team, which posted a time of 1:33.64.

With Cheserek and Jackson back in the fold for this weekend's Yale Invitational, expect the Gray Bees to chase the best time in the nation in the Distance Medley Relay, which was just established this past weekend by Jeramy Elkaim-led Livingston, who posted a time of 10:23.36 at the state Group 4 relays.

The wrestling team competed in the National High School Coaches Association Festival and went 2-3 during their five matches Saturday at Pleasant Valley High School in Pennsylvania.

Isaiah Cromwell was the lone wrestler to score a perfect 5-0 mark on the day for coach Solomon Fleckman's team, which posted victories over Emmaus (40-23) and Northwestern Lehigh (48-22).

The wrestlers returned to action on Monday to take on Seton Hall Prep and suffered a heartbreaking, 33-32, loss on the road in West Orange. The Gray Bees came into the final bout of the match trailing, 33-28, but Whitney Forte could only muster a major decision at 135 pounds, thus Seton Hall held on for the one-point decision.

Forte, Terrell Forbes, who registered a major decision at 152 pounds, and Vinnie Belleran, who posted a fall at 189 pounds, were the only ones who scored bonus points on the mat for Fleckman's squad.

TRACK TEAM EDGED IN DEFENSE OF COUNTY RELAY TITLE
Fencers finish 12th in Cetrulo tournament
Wrestlers place 4th in Ironman

January 2011

The Gray Bees track and field team looked as though it would eke out a second straight title in the Essex County Relays on Sunday.

But a lot of shuffling in final event - the 4x400-meter relay - wound up costing the St. Benedict's the title.

Coach Marty Hannon's team was leading Seton Hall Prep by five points heading into the meet-concluding race and needed only to finish within two places of the Pirates to maintain the lead and seal up the victory.

After placing third in the 4x400 (3:39.59) to Seton Hall's second (3:32.25) in the first heat, it looked as if St. Benedict's Prep would hang on and repeat as champion. The only way Seton Hall could overtake St. Benedict's would be if at least two teams ran faster than the Gray Bees time in the final heat of the race, usually reserved for the slower teams.

That's exactly what happened. Nutley (3:37.48) and Weequahic (3:38.97) posted better times, pushing the Gray Bees to fifth for the final results of the last event. Thus, the Gray Bees lost the title, 42-41, to Seton Hall.

The outcome would have been much different had Nutley and Weequahic ran head-to-head with SBP and Seton Hall in the first heat. But it only turned out to a big disadvantage to the Gray Bees.

"Pretty disappointing when you lose a meet by one point," said coach Hannon. "You can find a dozen reasons why you could have won, if only..."

St. Benedict's still finished second in the overall team standings, despite competing without All-American Edward Cheserek, who, along with Tahlief Jackson, are sitting out the first 30 days of the season in order for St. Benedict's to be eligible for county meets. Cheserek still ran in an open race on Sunday and took second in the Fred Lebow 5-Mile Classic in Central Park in 25:09. Cheserek lost to New Zealand's Olympian John Henwood.

In the county meet, St. Benedict's won the shot put as senior Ryan Rhodes threw a meet-best 51-03/4 and combined with Obinna Nwosu for a winning combined effort of 90-10 3/4.

The Gray Bees received a second-place effort in the high jump and shuttle hurdles (31.84), third in the sprint medley (3:41.40), fourth in the 800-meter relay (1:37.28), fifth in both the 1,600 (3:39.59) and 3,200 (8:41,.04) and sixth in the distance medley (11:51.59). In the high jump, Kenyon Wright had a meet-best leap of 6-2, but the Gray Bees finished second as a team due to number of misses.

The fencing team traveled to Glen Gardner on Sunday and competed in the Cetrulo tournament at placed 12th among 45 teams. Coach Jeff Austin's club wound up in 7th-place in Sabre, 10th in Epee and 26 in Foil for its team total of 43 points.

The Gray Bees were back in action Wednesday in only their third dual meet of the season and dropped a 14-13 decision to Gov. Livingston, a team that finished 7th in the Cetrulo.

The two teams were locked in a 13-all standoff heading into the final bout of the match in Foil. St. Benedict's saw it come down to the last touch in the final competition and found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-4 decision and lost the match.

The wrestling team was also in action over the weekend in Staten Island and came away with a fourth-place finish in the Dave Ironman Invitational at Msgr. Farrell. The Gray Bees finished three points out of third place to the host school, the same school they beat in a dual meet, 44-31, on Dec. 23.

Chris Dowdy (140 pounds) and Vinnie Bellaran (171) each came away with titles in the tournament with dominating efforts. Dowdy scored three falls and a major decision, while Bellaran posted a pair of pins and a technical fall.

Terrell Forbes (152) made it to the second championship bout of his career and placed second, along with Isaiah Cromwell (189). Chris Reynolds placed third at 215 pounds, while Whitney Forte (130) and Stephon McDonald (160) each took home fourth-pace honors.

"Our performance this weekend, like in past weekends this season, was positive overall," said coach Solomon Fleckman. "I believe many of us who are involved with the wrestling program are all anxious to have that one, break-out performance where we can all agree that, at last, we're clicking on all cylinders."

BASKETBALL, FENCING TEAMS POST IMPRESSIVE VICTORIES
Hoop team now faces No. 2 team in nation on Sunday
Fencers compete in the prestigious Cetrulo Invit.

Jan. 6, 2011

The Gray Bees basketball and fencing teams each put together dominating performances on Thursday.

The Hoop team rebounded from a pair of losses over the Christmas break by besting Peddie, 68-39, before a host of Alumni in Dalton Gym who came out to support the team before a gathering afterwards for a reception.

Coach Roshown McLeod's team hopes to build upon the effort as it readies itself for Sunday's 2 p.m. clash with St. Patrick of Elizabeth, the No. 2 ranked team in the nation in the in the Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children Benefit at Kean University.

"We are going to approach St. Pat's the same way we did tonight," said sophomore forward Jaylen Reid, who led the team with 12 points against Peddie. "We need to come out with the same intensity and keep it for the entire game."

The Gray have won two of the last three meetings against St. Patrick, including a thrilling, 65-64, buzzer-beating victory last year in Elizabeth. The year before St. Pat's posted a 66-62 verdict in the Hoop Group Showcase.

In 2008, the Gray Bees snapped of five-game losing streak to the Celtics by claiming a 68-62 victory behind Samardo Samuels' 30-point effort at the Rutgers Athletic Center. Samuels went on to play for Rick Pitino at Louisville and is now a rookie with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The fencing team went out on Thursday and proved it may just have what it takes to claim its first State Prep Championship since 2007 when it posting a convincing, 20-7, verdict over Princeton Day School.

Princeton Day ended the Gray Bees streak of 15-straight Prep titles in 2008 and won the title again over SBP again in 2009. The Gray Bees also finished second last year, but this time to Lawrenceville, a team Austin's club will face Feb. 5.

"We are reflecting some hard work in practice and fencing confidently and intelligently," said Coach Austin. "Our team has grown up and is claiming the wins they deserve."

The Gray Bees' received unbeaten efforts against PDS from Elliott McFarland (3-0), Jamar Victor (2-0), Idris Mitchell (3-0) and Kris White (3-0). McFarland competes in foil, White in Epee, while Victor and Mitchell are Sabreists.

The fencers face a huge test as a team on Sunday when they compete in the Cetrulo Invitational at Voorhees High School in Glen Gardner

SWIMMING TEAM WINS ITS SECOND STRAIGHT OUTING
Fencers open season with victory over St. Peter's

Dec. 16, 2010

The Gray Bees swimming team made it two straight victories by besting Horace Mann in a tightly contested meet Tuesday in New York.

Coach Glenn Cassidy's scored a victory in the final event - the 400-yard relay - and raised its record to 2-1 with a 48-46 triumph in Riverdale.

After several lead changes throughout the meet, SBP and Horace Mann were in a deadlock after the breast stroke, the penultimate race.

But the Gray Bees pulled it out when Cassidy used his top swimmers - Gio Urquilla, Kieran Lenahan, Dennis Tassie and Gavin Mulholland - to nail down the meet with a winning time of 3:34.24. Mulholland and Lenahan kept in close in the first two legs before Tassie (52.79) and Urquilla (51.73) pulled away with strong efforts.

The fencing team has high hopes for the 2010-11 season and opened up its season on Thursday with a convincing, 24-3, verdict over St. Peter's Prep at the Cobra Fencing Club in Jersey City.

Coach Jeff Austin's club swept all of its bouts in Sabre and Epee. "I think the current team is more goal oriented and motivated than any of the last four years," said Austin, now in his fifth year at the helm. "They all wanted to make a statement."

Sabreists Tashon Little, Idris Mitchell, and Jamar Victor all went 3-0 on the day; as did Epeeists Darran St. Ange, Kristopher White and Jongwon Kagabo. Elliott McFarland, Nick Walker and Mike Daniel each posted 2-1 marks in Foil.