DETROIT -- The first fencing event of the season for the men's and women's teams took place Sunday as the annual Istvan Danosi was held at Wayne State's Matthaei Building. The Titans captured five medals on the day as men's sabre won two and men's foil, men's epee and women's sabre each brought home single medals.
 
Senior Michael Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Port Huron Northern & Independent Studies) captured the silver medal in men's foil. Junior Clint Mikek (St. Louis, MI/St. Louis) took home a bronze in men's epee after stellar direct elimination rounds. Sophomore Kurt Hilton (Toronto, ON/Loren Park) stormed back from a slow start in the pools to make it to the men's sabre semifinals earning a bronze medal for his efforts. Sophomore Eva Berndt (Fremont, Mi/Providence Christian) won a bronze in women's sabre and the fifth Titan medal went to graduate assistant coach Nick Tobianski who went perfect in pool play and reached the championship match in men's sabre leaving the competition with a silver medal.
 
Purdy-Sachs had breezed through the first part of the day starting out with five wins in pool play and entered the direct elimination round as the No. 1 seed and a first round bye. He would advance all the way to the finals for the fourth straight year. Quentin Schneider of Wayne State wound up winning the championship bout by a 15-9 score and leaving Purdy-Sachs with a silver medal. The silver gives the senior a pair of silver medals in four years at the tournament and ends his run of two-straight gold medals.
 
“We had some good results today but the story of the day had to be Clint,” said head coach Todd Dressell. “He did a great job going 4-2 in pool play and was the sixth ranked seed heading into direct elimination and reaching the semifinals stepping up and showing great improvement over last year.”
 
After pool play, Mikek went on to the direct eliminations and defeated the No. 3 seed in the table of eight. A loss to Jimmy Ruub of Wayne State ended the day for Mikek in the semifinals but gave him his highest career finish ever placing third and earning the men's epee bronze medal.
 
Hilton, a newcomer to this year's sabre team, finished with two wins in the pool rounds and entered direct elimination as the 19th seed. He downed the No. 14 seed in the table of 32 and went on to upset the No. 3 seed in the table of 16. He won yet again in the table of eight defeating the No. 6 seed and advanced to the semifinals where he succumbed to Tobianski and earned a bronze in his first UDM event.
 
“I'm happy with Kurt and how he finished. He showed how receptive he was to coaching with a great ability to adjust and change and grow along the way. Reaching the semifinals was great for him today,” stated Dressell.
 
Tobianski entered men's sabre as the No. 1 seed and Nick Silantyev of Wayne State defeated the team's assistant coach in the final bout. With the tournament open to any college students, Tobianski was eligible to compete in addition to help out with his coaching duties.
 
On the women's side, Berndt represented yet another positive for Detroit fencing on the day in women's sabre capturing her first career medal and leading the women's team.
 
“She went 4-2 in pool play and was seeded fourth. She won in 16 and 8 but fell in a semifinal bout to finish third,” said Dressel.
 
In women's foil, sophomore's Sarah Armitage (Canton, MI/Plymouth) and Shannon Canavan (Lake Orion, MI/Lake Orion) both started strong in pool play posting 4-2 marks but then both fell in their first direct elimination. Armitage would finish 9th and Canavan 10th. Freshman Jill Johnson (Livonia, MI/Mercy) finished 20th overall in women's foil with one win in pool play.
 
The other sabre sword fencer for the Titan women was sophomore Ariel Skellett (Flint, MI/Powers Catholic) who drew even in the pools with a 3-3 record and finished 11th overall after a 15-10 loss in the first round of direct elimination.
 
In women's epee, sophomore Paige Zmudczynski (Fraser, MI/Dakota) won one bout in the pools and fenced better in the direct eliminations winning her first round match. Her second bout came against the No. 2 seed, senior Charlotte Reed of Wayne State, and the Titan sophomore nearly surprised her counterpart losing a one-touch decision, 15-14.
 
“Paige nearly had a great upset for us after starting slow in the pool rounds,” said Dressell. “I am happy with how she fenced today in her direct eliminations.”
 
In other men's results on the day, in foil, sophomore Yaroslav Ivanov (Louisville, KY/Ballard) was on a path to set up a Titan vs. Titan match-up in the men's foil championship bout vs. Purdy-Sachs. Ivanov began direct eliminations as the fourth seed and was perfect through pool play. He advanced to the table of eight before falling to senior Raffi Nersessian of Wayne state and finishing just out of the medals after earning a bronze medal last season.
 
Sophomore epeeist Cole Goike (Ray Twp., MI/Romeo) posted four wins in the opening pool round but could not advance beyond the first round of direct eliminations. Sophomore Elijah Robertson (Plymouth, MI/Salem) won two bouts in pool play but both he and freshman Phil Nelson (Trenton, MI/Gabriel Richard) fell in the first round of eliminations in men's foil. Freshmen John Faski (Grand Rapids, MI/West Catholic) in sabre and Frank Adamini (Shelby Twp., MI/De La Salle) in epee both posted a win in pool play.
 
The next tournament for the Titans will be the North America Cup on Dec. 12 in Kansas City, MO before hosting the lone home competition on the 2011-12 schedule on Jan. 15 as Detroit will host the UDM Invitational.