“When most people think of fencing, their minds go straight to medieval age sword fighting, where your goal is to slash your opponent to death,” states fencing Head Coach Andrew Stence.
“This could not be farther from the truth. In fencing, you only need about the force of pressing a key on a keyboard to score a point.”
Although the sport is gentler than many people imagine, that doesn’t make it any less competitive. Stencel hopes that he can build off a successful last campaign that saw both women’s saber and foil come third in the Great Lakes High School Fencing Championships. This bronze metal is especially impressive considering that their conference has been completely dominated by three schools: New Trier, Stevenson, and Culver.
“Knocking off one of those schools is always a massive deal. For most of the Conferences’ history, schools not part of the big three have been competing for fourth place or less,” stated Stencel.
So far this season the team has mostly been led by a powerful women’s saber who has started the season off 8-2. Varsity Co-Captain, senior Ellie Newmark, leads the squad, starting the season with a perfect individual record of 15-0, despite being out for long periods with a nagging foot injury. Yet she is not the most accomplished player on her incredibly talented squad. Sophomore Amanda Aldort has accomplished a whopping individual record of 29-1. Aldort and Newmark are joined by rising star Freshman Mylani Velasquez who, after starting the season 8-9, has drastically improved, winning eleven of her last fifteen bouts.
“My squad has gelled well this year, and we look more dangerous every week. I think our success has helped other parts of our team step up their game,” said Newmark.
While women’s saber has been grabbing most of the headlines this season, the team as a whole has been having a successful campaign. The women’s team and men’s team have an overall dual meet record of 8-2 and 6-4, both solidly above-average seasons in the program’s twelve-year history. The team will be especially eager to win this season, considering the controversial and heartbreaking end to last season.
Last year the team was led by an incredibly strong men’s epee squad, which Stencel could only describe as “Generation-defining.” The squad that went a perfect 14-0 comprised seniors Harper Jameson, Xander Seneshal, David Groothius, and Jack Pultuarack. Their season would end in a shocking second-round exit to the University of Chicago Labs. The Kits got unfairly matched up with the Maroons due to a seeding system that failed to account for the multiple nationally ranked Fencers who joined the Maroons late in the season.
“I was really good friends with a lot of the guys on Epee last year, and I know the end of their season was a letdown for all of us. I want to make sure that this year we get some revenge for them,” expressed Newmark
As much as Stencel may want to continue to win, he acknowledges that keeping the team fun and open to newcomers is critical for the team’s success. Stencel knows very well that you do not need to be experienced before signing up for high school fencing. He was new to the sport when he signed up for the Stevenson team, before captaining them to a championship.
“The number one thing that I look for in a young fencer is commitment and yearning to learn about the sport. It is one of the few sports out there that most people who sign up have never played before,” remarked Stencel.
Stencel hopes that by keeping the sport fun he will be able to retain commitment and be able to mold players into great fencers who can lead the program to success. Success to Stencel is the team growing larger enough that they can compete and win whole team championships rather than just individual weapons.
