Former Governor Livingston HS Fencing Standout wins All American Honors!

Former Highlander Fencing Standout wins All-America Honors!

 

Congratulations to Highlander Fencing Alum Nathaniel Benzimra (GLHS Class of 2009) on winning NCAA All-America Fencing honors this past weekend.   Nathaniel is a Junior Saberist for the Yale University Bulldogs.    

 

Benzimra becomes the first GLHS Alumnus to win All-America status as a fencer.   While at GL, Nate was part of the Highlanders' first State Championship Saber Squad.  

 

Nate's father, Albert Benzimra, has been a volunteer saber coach for the Highlanders for the past 5 seasons.

 

Nathaniel joins a dozen other Highlander Alums who fenced in the NCAA ranks this past season, including Bridget Greeley and Jillian Rosamilia (Lafayette), Nik Barbera and John Frame (Johns Hopkins),  Bev Yang (Cornell), Aileen Trella and Jordan Pagano (Sacred Heart), Ya Lu (Rutgers), Taia Harrison (Stevens), Andy Sui (NYU), Cheri Kao (Lehigh), and Jenn Denike (Duke).

Montclair Frosh/Soph HS - 2012

Governor Livingston Freshmen & Sophomores turned in a fine 
performance in the Frosh Soph, bringing in a total of 12 medals.  

Congrats to the finalists and well done to all who turned out to compete or coach.

Women's Freshmen Epee:  Emily Xu, Silver; Cornelia Wacaster, Bronze 
Women's Sophomore Epee: Alaina Jennings, Gold; Lauren Gonnelli, Silver
Women's Freshmen Foil: Zoya To, Silver; Kate Gonzales, Bronze
Women's Sophomore Foil: Camelia Hagerty, Bronze
Women's Freshmen Saber: Julia Yang, Silver; Jasmine Fong, Bronze
Women's Sophomore Saber: Alexandra Cassano, Bronze
Men's Freshmen Foil: Brandon Donohue, Bronze
Men's Sophomore Saber: Mark Watson, Gold

Congratulations to the Boys on their Victory - on to Columbia!

And congratulations and thanks to the GL Girls on an amazing season. We are so Proud of you!!

Here are links to Highlights on Flickr

GL Boys E8 vs Montclair  Pix

GL Girls E8 @ Livingston Pix

GL Boys Defeat N. Highlands in Sweet 16

GL defeated the Northern Highlander's Boy's Squad 19-8 in Sweet 16 action at GL. The meet remained close through the first two rounds. After NH closed to within one (8-9), Max's Menacker's victory in the 18th bout 18 win was pivotal. The Sabres then swept the third round with a strong finish and set the scene for Ryan Rossman to clinch the meet at 14-8.  Ryan Donohue, Jason Yang, and Eric Weng all went 3-0. 


The Flickr Gadget is down with some obscure error, but I've posted more HERE

Mandatory Practice Friday

Team:

We will be holding a MANDATORY practice on Friday at our normal time/location. We need to prepare as a team for the District Tournament.  Only fencers who are too ill to attend school on Friday are excused from practice.

Coach Paragano

GL Teams defeat Millburn

http://berkeleyheights.patch.com/articles/boys-and-girls-fencing-teams-defeat-millburn

GL Girls Foil Squad take first at Santelli

Just off the press from BH Patch.com:

http://berkeleyheights.patch.com/articles/photo-gl-girls-foil-team-wins-tournament

In a huge victory for the Gov. Livingston fencing team, the Girls Foil Team won the 49-team Santelli Tournament Saturday.    

The Foil squad includes Grace Boyle, Vivian Chu, and Kara Fan.

GL's three squads (foil, Saber and Epee) combined for an overall top-four finish.

"It was a great run against some strong competition," said coach Vince Paragano. "It also gets us on good footing for the District Tournament on January 29th."

Congratulations GL Fencers

Some Recent Press on GL Fencers

Vivian Chu Top Performer, Week 2

http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/girlsfencing/index.ssf/2012/01/high_school_top_performer_-_week_2_vivian_chu_girls_fencing_gov_livingston.html

Patch on GL Athletes of the Week, Brittin Boenning and Zachary Friedlander

http://berkeleyheights.patch.com/articles/governor-livingston-fencing-athletes-of-the-week-praise-team-cohesiveness

Patch Article on the men's amazing 2nd place at the Cetrulo Jan 7th

http://berkeleyheights.patch.com/articles/gl-fencers-impress-at-centrulo-tournament

Foil Eric Weng winning touch of 5th bout v. Columbia (Hey I didn't make Cetrulo)

GL Fencing Cetrulo Boys Tournament, Sat 1/7

The following is a message from Coach Paragano regarding the Cetrulo Boys Tournament on Saturday.

 

The bus will leave from GL promptly at 7:15.  The bus will be ONE WAY only.  All boys will be going to the meet.  Coach P will advise on Friday which boys need to be dressed in whites and be bringing their equipment.  All others should wear their blues. 

All athletes need to be picked up from the meet.  The meet will be held at Morris Knolls High School.  The address is  50 Knoll Dr., Rockaway, NJ 07866.  The phone number is 973-664-2200.

It will be tough to give an exact pick up time.   Your child should have access to a cellphone to reach you during the day to call when we are getting close to wrapping up.   For now, you can plan on an approximate 4 pm pick up.

If you will not be picking up your own athlete, you MUST send a note by Thursday to Steve Hopkins and Coach P with the name of the student and the authorized parent who will be taking your fencer home.  No fencer will be released to another parent unless that note is received and approved by Mr. Hopkins.  Parents are encouraged to attend and cheer on our fencers.  If you would like to be in uniform please contact Susan Menaker (usathome@verizon.net)  to purchase Spirit Wear.

With both the Santelli and Cetrulo Tournaments upon us, we thought it would be helpful to remind everyone about nutrition during the meets.  For those of you who are new to this experience, picture several quad meets happening at the same time, all day long!  It is a very long day for our fencers (and the parents).  The best thing we can do for our team is to make sure our fencers are well fed throughout the day.  Please consider bringing extra rations to support our athletes.   Remember we will not be allowed to purchase any of the food that will be available for sale that day.   

Please ensure that you have a large supply of approved foods:

water and Gatorade (you may want to cut the Gatorade in half)

bananas, raisins, grapes, cranberries, apples

carrots, celery

trail mix

protein bars

nuts

For  lunch time try these ideas:

 peanut butter, white meats, i.e. tuna, chicken, turkey, humus

 The following foods are absolutely prohibited on the day of the event AND the evening before:

 -- Breads of any kind (even Whole Wheats or Crackers)

-- Fried foods of any kind

-- Dairy (even cheeses or yogurts)

-- Candy of any kind

-- Granola

-- Soda

-- Caffeine

-- "Energy Drinks"

-- Fruit Drinks

-- Red Meats

-- Ketchup, Mayonnaise, Mustard

Finally, some of the members of the girls team will be allowed to travel to the meet on the bus (and will have the same pick up requirements as the boys).   Coach P will advise the girls as to who will be authorized to travel on the bus by Friday's practice.