Ward Melville girls, Newfield boys win Suffolk fencing championships

Ward Melville foilist Judy Hu stared across the strip, up one point against Commack’s Anna Petrizzo. As Hu retreated toward her end, the Patriots senior parried Petrizzo’s lunge and made the match-winning touch as her teammates screamed for joy around her.

No. 2 Ward Melville beat top-seed Commack, 14-9, to win the Suffolk girls fencing championship Thursday at Centereach High School.

On the boys side, No. 3 Newfield won its fourth consecutive boys title with a 14-10 win over No. 1 Brentwood.

Ward Melville and Newfield will both face the winners of Great Neck South/Syosset matches in the Long Island Championships Tuesday at Brentwood.

Ward Melville knocked the crown off the Cougars, who had won back-to-back county championships. Ward Melville won five consecutive bouts to win the title.

“I still can’t really believe it,” said Hu, who beat Petrizzo 5-3. “All the practicing and fencing we’ve been doing, it’s all been worth it. I’m so proud of my team.”

Hu went 3-0 in the match, starting off with a critical 5-4 win over six-year fencer Anna Rohring. The match went back and forth until junior sabreist Reese Brinstill delivered an emphatic 5-1 win over Chloe Gullo, one of Commack’s best fencers, as Brinstill secured a 3-0 day.

The win felt like it came full circle for coach Ginny Siskidis, who graduated from Ward Melville in 2009 as a four-time county fencing champion. But one factor meant more than the title for the Patriots alumna.

“I get a little more time with the girls,” Siskidis said. “I get to see them push through this and bring it to this final moment, and that’s so special.”

Across the gymnasium, Newfield sabreists Saaim Imran and Bricen Peinado and foilist Matthew Cresser all were down 4-3 to start the second cycle but came back to win 5-4 as the defending boys champions took a 9-4 team lead.

“One of the things we always talk about is weathering the storm,” coach Kyle Schirmer said. “That was one of our conversations today, whatever comes at us we just have to weather them to get to the end.”

Senior epeeist Marcus Lewis has yet to leave a season as anything less than a Suffolk County champion. He went 2-0 in the match, something he said is a culmination of his development as a leader.

“I’m finally seeing the things my coaches always told me,” Lewis said. “I can relay that to my team. I can finally help my teammates in a way that makes sense.”