The Vernon school district fencing team, along with members of Okanagan Freestyle Fencing, struck seven medals at the B.C. championships last weekend at the Olympic Oval in Richmond.
Coach Brendan Robertson got things going Friday with a silver medal in the veteran men’s épée final. He lost by one point to Bela Suveg of Vancouver.
Later that night, Hannah Zandvliet captured bronze in the Y12 épée, and Ian Oliphant placed sixth out of 21 of B.C.’s best. These two were supported by teammates Ayano Robertson, Hakan Akkurt, Andrew Schmidt, Ryan Schmitt, Alias Mullin and Miguel Lefevre.
Saturday saw Sawyer Bliss of Kidston Elementary and Alias Mullin of Beairsto Elementary share bronze in the Y10 épée.
Jaxsen MacKay of vLearn earned silver in the Y17 boy’s épée, and David Enns of Kal Secondary placed 11th in a competitive field that included Nathan Casperson of VSS. These teammates then finished seventh, eighth and 20th respectively in an even more challenging Y20 event the next day.
Rebecca McOnie of Armstong took silver in the open women’s event. In the open men’s category, Robertson upset the No. 4 seed in the fourth round to finish eighth. He was followed by Matt Clarke and Alex MacDuff, in 12th and 15th respectively.
Todd Semeniuk of Okanagan Fencing ranked 17th in a strong field of 37. In the team event, Clarke and teammate Chad Linton of Vancouver earned bronze.
