Record participation drives strong results for Macleans College Fencing

Macleans College entered a record number of teams in both the Secondary Schools' Team Competitions and the individual events. The strong turnout reflected the growing popularity of fencing at the school, with senior students encouraging and mentoring a large group of enthusiastic newcomers who only began fencing this year.

In the Secondary Schools' Foil Teams Competition, Macleans College entered four men's teams and three ladies' teams. The school also fielded four men's teams and one ladies' team in the Secondary Schools' Sabre Teams Competition.

Macleans College was one of only two schools able to field full ladies' teams, while most other schools combined female fencers from multiple schools to compete. As a result, Macleans College has secured a place at the National Secondary Schools Competition in August as Auckland's representative in the ladies' team events.

The Macleans College Men's Foil A Team, comprising captain Larry Lin (Batten House), Stacy Chong (Snell), Daniel Farrelly-Grace (Mansfield) and Maxwell Chen (Upham), reached the championship final against Kristin School for the third consecutive year. The team once again claimed the silver medal, with both finalists qualifying to represent Auckland at the National Secondary Schools Competition.

Macleans College also celebrated several outstanding individual performances. Maxwell Chen won silver in the Men's Foil division, while Jason Nie (Upham) earned bronze. Jason's achievement was particularly impressive, as the Year 10 student competed against a field of much more experienced fencers.

In the Sabre competition, Harry Zhou (Upham) claimed silver in the men's division and Bailey Young (Upham) won bronze in the ladies' division. Year 10 students Joshua Oh (Batten) and Jaxsen Zhu (Upham) also performed strongly, finishing sixth and seventh respectively in the men's competition.