Oyster Bay's Gabriella Sherlock and Luke Kugler win fencing titles at the Nassau individual championships
Luke Kugler of Oyster Bay wins the epee finals during the Nassau boys fencing championships at Cold Spring Harbor on Saturday. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
What a day to be from the Bay.
Sophomore foilist Gabriella Sherlock and freshman epeeist Luke Kugler won gold medals for Oyster Bay at the Nassau individual fencing tournament Saturday at Cold Spring Harbor High School.
Both fencers dealt with injuries this season — Sherlock tore his hamstring in September and Kugler had a knee injury related to growth plates — but neither let it stop them from competing.
“It feels really great,” said Kugler, who beat Great Neck South’s Max Tse, 15-12. “... [Oyster Bay fencing] is not super well known, so it’s nice to bring home some gold medals.”
Sherlock beat Great Neck South's Angela Wu, 15-12, in the foil finals despite not taking a lead prior to her 11th touch. This came after a semifinal win over Syosset’s Sophie Wang, who beat Sherlock by a single touch in the quarterfinals last season.
“It made me more determined to win and prove to myself that I’ve gotten better in the last year,” Sherlock said of last season's loss. “I had to work through [my hamstring], but I was just telling myself 'it’s one touch at a time.'”
Sherlock wasn’t the only one seeing familiar faces. Syosset’s Anika Nayak faced Great Neck North’s Anna Beauchesne for the second consecutive season in the girls sabre finals. Nayak defended her 2023 title with another win, defeating Beauchesne 15-13.
“It was getting really close, this score,” Nayak said. “I was able to calm down, and I think that’s something I didn’t have the ability to do a few years ago, so I’m happy about that.”
Brandon Lim represented Syosset in the boys sabre finals, facing off against Herricks’ Justin Lau, who won 15-7 while displaying tremendous patience to counter Lim’s aggressive approach to the strip. The Herricks senior held on to beat Syosset’s Sajan Shah in the semifinals.
“[The semifinal] really felt like a final cup,” Lau said. “I tried my hardest and, at one point when I was down, I thought about giving up. But I said, 'no, I have to win, it’s my senior year.'”
Great Neck South’s Jun Ahn won gold in boys foil, defeating Garden City’s Trey Plastaras 15-7. Ahn said he entered the tournament expecting to win, so few could be surprised when he immediately moved on from his win to support Wu in the girls foil final.
Hewlett was the fourth school to grab gold as epeeist Claudia Lee defeated Manhasset’s Remi Pai, 15-8. The sophomore was thrilled to beat the defending Nassau champion.
“It was extremely unexpected,” Lee said. “I came in with a very low standard because I’ve started only recently, and it’s just an amazing experience and I’m so grateful.”