Ward Melville's Will Lehr finds his best form in time to sweep to Suffolk epee title

It’s been a lifetime since Will Lehr has lost.

Yes, that’s hyperbolic in some sense, but not really. The Ward Melville senior hadn’t lost in the regular season before times that are now a mere memory.

"Before COVID," he said.

Yes, Lehr was 37-0 this season and 25-0 the season before that. So when he lost twice in the Suffolk boys fencing team championships Saturday morning at Whitman High School, he knew he had to change the air around him. The winds of wins had left and he needed them to return before the individual championships in the afternoon.

"I told myself before individuals to reset myself, reset my brain" Lehr said. "I suited down, then suited back up and warmed up like it was a whole new day. I totally reset my mind and my body. When I fenced during individuals, I was almost like a new fencer."

Not totally new, though. It was the same Lehr of old. Those wins whipped right back. Lehr won all eight of his individual bouts and walked away with the Suffolk epee championship.

"In the team competition, I started to get a little lazy and tired, and I got punished for that," Lehr said. "When I did my warm-up [for individuals], I felt so much better, so much more focused and clean."

SEE PHOTOSSuffolk fencing team and individual championships

Elsewhere, Newfield’s Brennan Robins won seven bouts to win the foil championship and Commack’s Robert Barnes won all eight bouts to win sabre. Barnes said he anticipated his opponents moves very well en route to the victory.

"Before today, I would have said that I wouldn’t have been able to do it very well," Barnes said of his anticipatory skills. "But it just came easily today."

Barnes said he does not use a specified outside coach — a common practice in fencing — but still feels as sharp as ever.

"I’m at the peak of my game," Barnes said.

On the girls side, Sayville’s Mia Santana won eight bouts to win epee. Commack’s Anna Rohring won eight to win foil and Ward Melville’s Alexa Horan won eight to win sabre.

"Sabre is a very fast weapon," said Horan, who was 39-0 in the regular season. "It’s all about making the right decisions and the right calls, keeping it clean, keeping it simple, and just having fun with it."

Newfield won both the boys and girls team competitions. The girls won, 52-51, over Ward Melville and Commack and the boys won, 61-60, over Commack. Commack, by virtue of winning in the playoffs — which were wrapped up last week — will represent Suffolk in the boys and girls Long Island Championship this Wednesday at Whitman.