The Columbia boys and girls fencing teams remained perfect on the season, taking first place overall in the District 3 Championships on Sunday at Wayne Valley High School. For the boys, it was their first title in six years, and for the girls, it was their seventh district championship over the last eight seasons.

Columbia's top foil fencer, Brian Kaneshige, led the way for the boys, who scored 70 points, between his first place finish in the foil and sabre, along with a fifth place in the epee.

Individually for the boys, Kaneshige was the district champ in the foil for the third consecutive time in his high school career, going 7-0. His teammate Geoff Marino went 5-2 as the runner-up in the district at foil. In the sabre, two other Cougars qualified with Andrew Kelly finishing fourth with a 5-3 record and Stowe Hammerberg coming in fifth at 5-5.

The girls were led by Haley Hart and Sienna Batzli, who helped the Cougars capture the team epee title. They finished third in the foil and second in the sabre, with a total of 71 points, edging Governor Livingston for the win.

Hart won the individual district championship in the epee, her first ever, posting a 7-0 record, while Faizah Muhammad, the defending state champ in the sabre, went 8-0, holding off Wayne Hills's Celina Merza, with a 5-4 win. Also moving on to the state individual championships is Batzli, who was third in the epee, Rachel Viqueira, fourth in the foil, and Tory Trama, fifth in the sabre.

Things could not have gone much better for the Cougar fencers, who remained unbeaten this season and will likely both be top seeds in the upcoming state playoffs, which were determined by the results of Sunday's District 3 Championships. The top four teams from each district will move on to the team state championships, held Feb. 9-10.

The top four squads for each individual weapon from each district move on to squad state championships on Feb. 27-28. The top five individuals from each weapon and from each district move on to the state individual championships, to be held at Rider University on March 13.