Sullivan competing at Round 1 of the N Ireland Fencing Junior Foil Series
The NI Junior Foil Series consists of 6 fencing competitions held throughout the school year, each round held in a different school or club. Round 1 was held last Saturday 5 November 2016 in Grosvenor Grammar School, where Sullivan had 15 entrants in 4 age groups: U12 Girls, U14 Girls, U14 Boys and U16 Girls, many of them year 8s and 9s in their first ever competition.
In the U12 Girls, SU year 8 fencers filled places 1 to 3, with Emma Yeaman taking gold, Alex Burke silver and Olivia White bronze. Hannah Robinson finished just outside the medals at 5th.
The U14 Girls’ event saw SU year 9, Willow Wolsey take bronze, as she put up a good semi-final fight against the eventual winner, Dasha Lee from Dublin club Pembroke. Year 10 pupil Anna Vaughan won the other semi fairly easily, then faced Lee in the final. After falling behind, Anna began a strong come-back to bring the scores level at 14-14, only to miss her last lunge attack and lose 14-15 to take the silver medal. Year 9s Izzy Evans and Rachel McKillen, year 8 Victoria Morris and year 9 Tara Miller finished 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th respectively.
In the U14 Boys event SU year 9s Oliver Galbraith, Michael Hanna and Cormac Kitchen had a tough time competing against very experienced Pembroke fencers but still finished 6th, 8th and 9th.
Year 11s Erin Maginn and Phoebe McPherson ended up fencing each other in the U16 Girls’ quarter-finals, with Erin just edging out Phoebe 15-13 in a very close fight. Erin went on to take bronze, losing out to the eventual U16 winner in the semi-final.
Well done all SU fencers who attended.
David White
SUFC Coach
8 November 2016