Successful Fencing Season

Fencing at Macleans College has gone from strength to strength throughout the 2016 season.

Fencing North Secondary Schools Teams Competition

Macleans A comprising of Michael Purcell (Kupe House), Nianda Weng (Rutherford), Nelson Lee (Snell) and Kevin Hou (Upham) faced tough opposition from season long rivals Auckland Grammar School and Saint Kentigern College. Macleans A lost narrowly to Auckland Grammar School in the pool rounds but after careful tactical analysis by Michael Purcell, the team implemented his plan to perfection and convincingly defeated the Auckland Grammar School team in the semi-finals. In the finals Macleans narrowly lost to a much more experienced Saint Kentigern College team but were pleased to come away with a silver medal in their first year of competition.

In the Advanced Foil competition, Macleans A comprising of Michael Purcell, Finn Holt (Mansfield), Alex McGuire-Barnes (Te Kanawa) and Nick McGuire-Barnes (Te Kanawa) finished in 5th place, which was commendable for such a young team.

In the Novice Foil competition, Macleans College was able to field four teams of fencers who had only just started competing. Macleans B comprising of Jon Ngoi (Batten), Amy Skidmore (Rutherford), Lia Antonets (Mansfield) and Hans Santoso (Batten) took out second place to receive Macleans second team silver medal of the competition.

National Secondary School Championships

Macleans College was represented by a small and youthful team of Foilist and Sabreurs. Michael Purcell continued his excellent season by finishing third equal in the individual foil competition. The other notable result was Nick McGuire-Barnes who placed 22nd as a year 10 student.

In the individual Sabre competition Michael Purcell knocked Nelson Lee and then Kevin Hou out of the competition in the direct elimination rounds on his way to coming third equal. Kevin finished 8th which is a fantastic result for a year 10 in his first year of competition.

In the Foil teams Macleans A team came 5th having being knocked out by the eventual winners Auckland Grammar. In the Sabre teams, the team of Michael, Nelson and Kevin, fenced well to get to the finals but lost to much more experienced team to take second place.

Australian U15 and Cadet (U17) Fencing Championships

Alex McGuire-Barnes and Nick McGuire-Barnes represented New Zealand in this competition. In a strong field of U15 Australian, Singaporean and New Zealand fencers, Alex and Nick finished 34th and 44th respectively and were the 4th and 5th best New Zealand fencers in the individual competition. Alex was selected for the New Zealand A team and Nick was the top ranked New Zealander selected for the B team.

The New Zealand A team fenced extremely well in the round of 8 to knock out the 3rd ranked team and progress onto the semi-finals where they lost to the eventual runners up but they were ecstatic to come away with a Bronze medal.

The New Zealand B team was knocked out in the round of 8 by the top seeded team with Nick being the highest scoring member of the team.