Jan 17, 2020

Fencing: Sullivan at Round 3 of the N Ireland Junior Foil Series

SU fencing club at NIJFS Round 3 at Sullivan (minus Edward Lilley)

Last Saturday 11th January it was Sullivan’s turn to host a round of the 2019/20 NI Junior Foil Series. This was Round 3 of the series and 15 SU fencers had entered, including for the first time, 2 from the Prep School. Five medals were won by SU fencers in total, 3 silver and 2 bronze.

U10s

Year 6 Prep fencer Sam Snoddy put in an impressive performance in his first ever competition, starting off with 5 wins from 6 in his poule to take the 2nd seed position for the direct elimination stage. He then progressed through the quarter and semi-finals to reach the final, but lost to the no.1 seed to take silver.

U12s

After the poule stage in the girls’ U12s Amelia Penny was 4th seed, but was knocked out in the quarter-finals, finishing 5th overall.

In the Boys’ U12s, Prep year 7 Myles Wilkinson (in his first competition) and year 8 Noah Currie were seeded 3rd and 5th respectively after the poules. In the knock-out stage they reached the quarters where they put in strong performances, but both were beaten 7-10, Myles finishing 5th and Noah 6th.

U14s

Year 9s Charlie Beimers and Alexandra Ong were the SU female representatives in this age group. Charlie only dropped one fight in her poule to take the 2nd seed position, while Alexandra ended up seeded 5th going into the direct eliminations. Alexandra lost in the quarter-finals (finishing 5th), but Charlie went on to put in her best performance to date and reach the final, but only after a hard fought 15-14 win in the semi. In the final she lost to the no.1 seed, taking the silver medal.

In the Boys’ U14s Edward Lilley, Lewis Currie and Finn Neely finished the poules ranked 3rd, 5th and 9th. Finn, carrying a number of injuries, suffered a narrow 14-15 defeat in the last 16, while Edward and Lewis made the quarters to finish 5th and 6th.

U16s

Victoria Morris had a superb start in the Girls’ U16s, finishing the poule stage unbeaten to take the no.1 seed position. Izzy Evans was close behind, seeded no.2, with Alex Atkinson and Rachel McKillen no.4 and no.6. Rachel was knocked out in the quarters to finish 6th, while Alex and Izzy made it to the semi-finals. Here Izzy was knocked out by the eventual winner and then Alex had to withdraw from the competition due to an arm injury picked up in her quarter-final fight, the two of them finishing joint 3rd. The final was a rerun of the previous 2 rounds, Victoria against the top RoI U16 from Dublin. This time Victoria failed to get the win, finishing with the silver medal.

The Boys’ U16s had Alexander Penny and Keir Murray finishing their poules with seedings 4 and 7. Both were however knocked out in the quarters, with Alexander finishing just outside the medals in 5th and Keir finishing 7th.

Round 4 takes place on Sun 9th February 2020 in the Queens Leisure Complex in Holywood.