Pope Fencers Sweep Centennial Event

The Pope High School fencing team competed in a Georgia High School Fencing League tournament at Centennial High School over the weekend, and the Greyhounds swept the men's event, a first-ever accomplishment. Lassiter also competed in the tournament, which also included Milton, South Forsyth, Johns Creek and Lambert.

The highlights, from the Pope Fencing website: 

Luben Jelezarov took gold (for the second tournament in a row), Ian Lenthart took silver and Anthony Schell and Daniel Matsumoto took bronze (the first medal for either of them. 

In the women’s event, Katie Van Riper of Pope took silver after beating Dorothy Cannella of Centennial in the semi-final (the latter's first loss this season).

Of the 39 Pope fencers at the tournament, 10 earned points. 

Jelezarov remains in first place in the league, and Lenthart is now tied for second. 

Seven Pope fencers had new personal best finishes in the Centennial event. 

Pope men and women earned 357 points at this tournament, more than 200 points ahead of any other school at the Centennial tournament, and more than 100 points ahead of any other school at either tournament.

With their dominating performance, the men increased their lead at the top of the standings and are now 278 points ahead of second placed Chattahoochee, Northview is third (just 2 points behind Chattahoochee) and Alpharetta is a distant fourth. 

The women’s team is also in first place, 76 points ahead of second placed Alpharetta; Johns Creek is in third place and Northview is fourth.