Chatham boys, girls defend Morris County Tournament fencing team titles
RANDOLPH – Allen Trudnos has never really felt like he’s part of a fencing team. Even though Trudnos finished third in sabre at the NJSIAA individual championships last winter, he was only representing himself – and Pope John.
But this year, Trudnos joined the new co-op program between the Lions and Morris Catholic. He became a Morris County Tournament champion on Saturday afternoon.
Trudnos, a 6-foot-4 senior from Hamburg, started fencing with his father, Mark, when he was in elementary school. Mark Trudnos is the CEO and head coach of National Fencing Academy, as well as at West Essex High School.
Allen Trudnos hopes to win the NJSIAA sabre title before heading to New Jersey Institute of Technology to continue his career.
“I feel good, accomplished,” said Trudnos, who wore a blue-and-gold Pope John sock on his left foot and the blue-and-white of Morris Catholic on his right.
“I’m thankful for my teammates supporting me. At states, you have your friends and the coach supporting you, but here there’s 25 people. It feels good when you score a point and they cheer for you.”
Chatham swept both overall team titles for the second year in a row, as the boys claimed their fourth straight. Both the Cougars boys and girls epee and sabre squads won. Chatham junior epee Azniv Basralian won a fence-off for the second year in a row – and she’s only a third-year fencer.
Individual champ Julia DiPaolo led West Morris’ foil squad to victory. Host Randolph won boys foil.
Dev Badlani of Chatham defended his foil title, with Alex Pope of Randolph second again – this time on indicators.
“It’s such a versatile sport,” said Azniv Basralian, who is fencing alongside her younger sister, freshman Lucine Basralian.
“People call it mental chess. You make your own game plan and execute it, and it’s different for every person.”
There are 59 NJSIAA-affiliated fencing programs this winter, a significant increase from when the MCT launched in 2011. Morris and Somerset are the only counties in New Jersey to host coed tournaments, with about 250 fencers competing on Saturday.
The new Morris Catholic/Pope John co-op joined veteran programs like Morristown, Morris Hills – which launched in the 1950s, and Morris Knolls (1964).
The same schools are scheduled to compete at NJSIAA district tournaments later this winter.
Andrew Scypinski of Mendham captured the epee title a year after failing to qualify for the individual championships. Late last year, he started using pre-bout self-talk to calm himself down and boost his confidence.
“I really improved myself and focused on being motivated,” said Scypinski, a 6-foot-5 senior. “My friends texted and said I’d better win. They said, ‘Go win a gold.’ They’re pretty curious (about fencing) and wanted to see what it was about, and they thought it was pretty cool.”
GIRLS RESULTS
Overall: Chatham 66, Morris Hills 61, Randolph 48, Morristown 46, West Morris 41, Morris Catholic/Pope John 40, Mendham 31, Morris Knolls 29, Kinnelon 27, Butler 16
Foil team: West Morris 23; Morris Hills and Mendham 16; Chatham 15; Kinnelon 14; Randolph and Morris Catholic/Pope John 13; Morristown 12; Morris Knolls 9; Butler 4
Foil individuals: Julia DiPaolo (West Morris) 5-0; Emily Ott (Kinnelon) 4-1; Sanjana Kuttikat (West Morris) 3-2; Alyssa Cullen (Randolph), Katie Fisher (Mendham) and Sanjana Jhaveri (Morristown) 1-4
Epee team: Chatham 25; Morris Hills 22; Morris Catholic/Pope John 18; Randolph 16; Morristown 15; Kinnelon and Butler 10; West Morris 8; Morris Knolls; Mendham 5
Epee individuals: Azniv Basralian (Chatham) 4-1* (won in fenceoff); Bani Sond (Chatham) 4-1; Ugonna Egbuchulam (Morris Hills) 3-2; Lucine Basralian (Chatham) 2-3; Alyssa Ezell (Morristown) 1-4; Amelia Kerr (Morris Catholic/Pope John) 0-5
Sabre team: Chatham 26, Morris Hills 23, Morristown and Randolph 19, Morris Knolls 14, West Morris and Mendham 10, Morris Catholic/Pope John 9, Kinnelon 3, Butler 2
Sabre individuals: Sofia Marek (Morris Hills) 5-0; Aiden Bernstein (Chatham) 4-1; Natalie Yen (Chatham) 3-2; Audrey Kao (Morris Hills) 2-3; Samantha Graff (West Morris) 1-4; Emma Hamilton (Randolph) 0-5
BOYS RESULTS
Overall: Chatham 71, Randolph 61, Morris Catholic/Pope John 47, West Morris 41, Morris Knolls 40, Morris Hills and Kinnelon 37, Mendham 33, Morristown 24, Butler 14
Foil team: Randolph 26; Chatham 24; Kinnelon 19; Morris Catholic/Pope John and Morris Hills 14; Mendham and Morris Knolls 12; West Morris 11; Butler; Morristown 1
Foil individuals: Dev Badlani (Chatham) 4-1 (+15); Alex Pope (Randolph) 4-1 (+13); Ethan Salvo (Randolph) 3-2; Matt Waibel (Kinnelon) 2-3 (-5); Nate West (Chatham) 2-3 (-7); Christian Definis (Randolph) 0-5
Epee team: Chatham 22; Mendham, Morris Knolls and Morris Catholic/Pope John 17; Morristown 16; Randolph 14; West Morris 12; Kinnelon 10; Butler 6; Morris Hills 4
Epee individuals: Andrew Scypinski (Mendham) 4-1 (+10); Skanda Krishnan (Chatham) 4-1 (+6); Jacob Gringeri (Morristown) 3-2; Hubert Obrebiski (Randolph) 2-3 (-3); Matt Kellish (Morris Catholic/Pope John) 2-3 (-6); Kieran Jackson (West Morris) 0-5.
Sabre team: Chatham 25, Randolph 21, Morris Hills 19, West Morris 18, Morris Catholic/Pope John 16, Morris Knolls 11, Kinnelon 8, Morristown 7, Butler 6, Mendham 4
Sabre individuals: Allen Trudnos (Morris Catholic/Pope John) 5-0; Lucas Clymer (Ch) 3-2; Cristian Cantada (Randolph) 2-3 (+1); Ken Bella-Jaro (Chatham) 2-3 (-3); Tyler Kometani (West Morris) 2-3 (-6); Brandon Howe (Morris Hills) 1-4
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ fencing: Chatham boys, girls defend Morris County Tournament titles
