Ten schools attended Huntington’s Alan Kuver Memorial fencing Tournament on Saturday, cheering teammates on when the event began at 9 a.m. and maintaining that enthusiasm all the way to the medal ceremony at 6:30 p.m. Then, after more than nine hours of fencing, the gym fell silent.
But, when the word “Manhasset” was read out loud as the winner of the tournament that combined both boys and girls scores into one champion, that silence was shattered.
For Manhasset coach Michael Fabio, who went to Huntington as a student and fenced under the late Kuver, lifting the trophy meant something more than just another win in the books.
“It’s an honor to come here and finally win it for the first time,” Fabio said. “It’s something.”
Edward Huang, Marcus Wu and Colin Hairabedian led the Manhasset epee team that defeated Half Hollow Hills, 45-34 to win gold. Armed with a 6-1 boys record and a 7-0 girls record, Huang said leaving the weekend with a gold medal — and a team trophy — will hopefully kickstart a strong finish to the season.
“We feel amazing,” Huang said. “It’s an amazing squad we have with us three. We feel like this is the best year we’ve ever had, and we want to do more next year.”
Manhasset’s girls epee team — led by Maria Kapsalis, Remi Pai and Sophia Xenophontos — captured a silver medal, while the boys sabre team earned a bronze. Manhasset narrowly edged out Brentwood in the overall competition. Brentwood finished in the top five in all but one weapon class.
Great Neck South’s girls epee and boys foil team won gold. The Rebels, like many fencing programs, have an incredibly close connection between its boys and girls programs. After winning a gold medal herself , captain Kira Nguyen and the rest of the epee team cheered on their school in the boys foil finals.
“We always train together, every day,” Nguyen said. “We always run together, we stretch, we do all our drills together. I think it’s really great when we get to…
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