West Milford fencing teams place at Passaic County Championships
West Milford. The West Milford High School varsity fencing teams placed third for the girls and fourth for the boys at the Passaic County Fencing Championships, with Victoria Van Tassel winning gold in sabre and Eric Zheng earning bronze in epee.
| 02 Feb 2026 | 02:57
The West Milford girls’ fencing team placed third and the boys placed fourth at the Passaic County Fencing championships.
Victoria Van Tassel won a gold meal.
The West Milford High School varsity fencing teams competed in the Passaic County Fencing Championships on Saturday, Jan. 24, at PCTI in Wayne.
The girls team finished third overall, while the boys team placed fourth. By weapon, the girls’ sabre team — including captain Victoria Van Tassel, Cameron Choma and Claire Hazelman — placed second. The epee team of Gianna Buzzelli, Stephanie Soler, Lyla Porras and Charlotte Wenzel finished third, and the foil team of Ashley Gutierrez, Abigail Coppola, Sabrina McManus and Marie Swan took fourth.
The boys’ sabre team of Kevin Docwra, Ayden King, Donald Stinziano, Tyler Bendsen-Torode and Gavin Escolano placed fourth. The foil team of Tyrese Martin, Carlos Campos, Jacob Pritchett and Thomas DiLella also placed fourth, and the epee team of Eric Zheng, Trevor Docwra, Cole Eisele and Holden DeVore finished fifth.
Five fencers advanced to the individual competition: Buzzelli, Zheng, Docwra, Van Tassel and Choma. Van Tassel went undefeated to win gold in sabre, while Zheng earned bronze in epee.
The team is supported by armorers Jaclyn Romano, John Huang and Samantha Woodcock, who maintain equipment, and is coached by Head Coach David Gerold with alumni assistants Bryan Szolusha and Joseph Pritchett.
West Milford is scheduled to host Lakeland on Jan. 30 at 4 p.m. and Holy Angels on Feb. 3 at 4:30 p.m.