For the first time in the Urban School’s history, the boys fencing team won the All-City Championship on April 19, 2014 at Stuart Hall High School.

In fencing, each individual team member’s rank is combined into an overall score for the school. Although Lowell High School won the cumulative and individual bouts, Urban won the overall for the boys team. The coed team had 17 students this season, captained by Kaitlin McKinnon (’14) and Nicholas Fong and coached by Kathy Krusen.

“I’m very proud of the team,” said team member Matt Shepherd, (’15). “We have some very good fencers, and this year we picked up a couple (of) good new ones.”

Despite the boys’ success, the fencing team often doesn’t get much recognition at Urban. “Maybe fencing doesn’t get a lot of publicity because it’s not a spectator sport, you really have to know what’s going on,” said McKinnon. “It’s complicated, and it’s more popular on the East Coast.”

“I’m so proud,” she added. “(I)t’s great to see the growth over the years especially from two years ago when we lost all of our seniors and we didn’t have anyone to replace them.”

Plus, “(w)e get a banner, which is so exciting,” McKinon said.

Greg Angilly, Urban’s athletic director, said the team is one of the highlights of this athletic year.

“Fencing has stood out,” he said. “We’re really proud of our boys and our coach for winning what is a really tough thing to win.”