Familiar foes meet on strip

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
June 6, 2004
Thomas Morgan of Laurel and Helen Mays of Clinton became well acquainted on the fencing strip Saturday afternoon.
The pair of 12-year-old fencers faced each other three times at Bonita Lakes Mall during the youth fencing competition of the State Games of Mississippi.
Thomas Morgan whose brothers, Andrew and Will, also fenced in the youth competition won two of the three bouts against Mays.
The two competitors first met in the youth-12 foil gold medal bout.
Thomas Morgan scored the first three points, but Mays drew within 7-6 of her opponent's lead midway through the bout, which was played to 15 touches (points).
Thomas Morgan responded to Mays coming within a point of his lead to take seven of the next eight points for a 14-7 lead, and he won the youth-12 gold medal with a 15-9 victory. Mays won the silver medal, and Johnson Marcellino took the bronze medal in the youth-12 event.
Mays and Thomas Morgan met again during pool play in the youth-14 competition. Pool-play bouts were won by reaching five touches first.
The two fencers exchanged a one-point lead four times in their second bout, but Mays pulled off a 5-4 win taking the last two points of the bout.
Thomas Morgan picked up a narrow victory over Mays in the semifinals of the youth-14 direct elimination, which was won by scoring 15 touches first. He won the bout 15-12.
The two fencers exchanged the first two points of the bout, but Mays was able to take a 6-3 lead early in the match.
Thomas Morgan continued to stay close on the scoreboard cutting Mays' lead to 6-5, and May could only go up by two points until the score became tied at 11.
Thomas Morgan took his first lead of the bout at 12-11, and after Mays tied the score at 12, he scored the final three points for the win.
The semifinal win matched Thomas Morgan against another familiar opponent in the gold medal bout his brother Andrew Morgan, who is 14.
Andrew Morgan won the gold medal scoring a 15-6 victory, as Thomas Morgan collected the silver medal in the youth-14 group. Andrew Morgan collected five of the final six points, after Thomas Morgan cut his brother's lead to 10-5.
Mays and Marcellino shared the bronze medal in the youth-14 foil competition.
Patrick Hurd of Ocean Springs picked up the gold medal in the youth-10 foil bouts. The youth-10, which drew seven fencers, was played to four touches in pool play, and did not have a direct-elimination round.
Conner Yelverton of Clinton, who only had five lessons before the State Games, took second place in the youth-10 for the silver, and Whitman Craig of Hattiesburg and Cody Lammons of Clinton shared the bronze medal.
Results for the junior foil bouts, which is open to fencers 19 years old and younger, were not available at press time on Saturday.
The fencing competition drew 26 participants on its first day, and it continues in the mall today with open competitions in epee, foil and saber. Today's competition will begin at 10 a.m. with the epee bouts.