By Josh Dinetz
2014–15 was very successful for the Great Neck North Blazers Boys Fencing team. After winning the championship last year and in 2013, this year looked pretty promising with four unstoppable fencers—junior twins Patrick and Jon Gao, and seniors Jao Cho and Griffen Healy.
A few weeks prior, Patrick Gao and Healy were named County Champs in individuals, but the competition this past Saturday, Feb. 6, at The Wheatley School in Old Westbury was for team championships.
Just two days earlier, on Thursday, Feb. 4, the Lady Blazers were knocked out of the competition by their biggest rival, The Wheatley Wildcats Girls. However, the boys stayed strong and were able to defend their title at the championship, where they went up against Jericho.
On Saturday, the Blazers were losing after the first round, which was with the foil against Jericho. The only one to win a match in that round was Healy. When it was time for the sabre, one of the weapons used in fencing, Patrick Gao started off strong and unstoppable, but wound up losing by one point to Jericho’s Alex Gittler.
Next up was Healy. Down already in the second of three rounds, he tried to make a comeback for his team; however, there was no luck as he also lost in the second round. Finally, Cho ended up winning against Jericho’s Matthew Gavieta. At this point, though, Jericho was one point from winning, yet Great Neck North didn’t give up. They kept fighting into the third round where they finally were defeated.
Healy, who knows that he is indeed a very skilled fencer, was very humble and said “I don’t like to think about that. It is about my team, and they all did great.” The senior also said that he has high hopes for the team next year. At the end of the day, the Blazers came in third place, Garden City came in second and Jericho took home the prize coming in first place.
