Men's Foil Results
Men's Epee Results
Men's Sabre Results
Women's Sabre Play-In Results

DETROIT - The Titan fencing teams competed at the NCAA Regional Qualifiers at Wayne State Saturday and Sunday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Junior Michael Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Port Huron Northern & Ind. Studies) topped all Detroit results as he finished fifth overall in men's foil on the day.

The NCAA Championships are set for March 24-27 in Columbus, OH to be hosted by Ohio State and the list of those who will be at that meet will be made official later in the week.

“I think Purdy-Sachs is an excellent candidate to be selected for the NCAA Championships. He has worked hard this year and I feel honored to have worked with him,” said Titan head coach Todd Dressell.

The top 24 NCAA fencers at each of the three fencing weapons, regardless if the individual is from Division I, II, or III, advance to NCAA Championships. 22 fencers earn a spot based on season results, regional qualifier results and an NCAA fencing committee decision while the last two spots are filled with at-large bids as chosen by the committee.

Purdy-Sachs started slow as he was three touches away from elimination in the opening round with two victories. Freshman Yaroslav Ivanov (Louisville, KY/Ballard) had three victories in the opening round and senior Brad Coon (Jenison, MI/Hudsonville) had two. Each member of the men's foil squad advanced past the first round and into the final round of ten.

Purdy-Sachs would finish in the fifth position after a 5-4 mark in the finals while the other Titans in men's foil, Ivanov and Coon finished eighth and 10th, respectively. Ivanov was 2-7 and Coon went 0-9 in the final round.

Senior Tom Lorenzo (Avon, OH/St. Ignatius) of the men's sabre team advanced past the first round,  that had three pools of six people, and into the second round featuring two pools of seven individuals. Lorenzo would finish 14th after an 0-6 mark in the second frame.

“Tom finished above his original seed in the tournament and I am happy for that result,” added Dressell.

While Purdy-Sachs is the most likely candidate to advance further in the tournament, senior Tim Nelson (Riverview, MI/Gabriel Richard) of the men's epee team was the one that had coach beaming.

“Tim fenced amazing. He was incredible. He did such a great job today,” said Dressell.

Nelson first advanced past the play-in round and to the opening round of 14 individuals with seven in each pool before moving on the final round of ten. He went 2-4 in the second round and 1-8 in the final round but the excitement came as over the course of the day, Nelson had three losses of one touch to Igor Tolkachev of Ohio State, Marco Canevari, also from Ohio State, and John Marshall of Cleveland State. Canevari took the men's epee title and Tolkachev and Marshall were fourth and seventh respectively, so Nelson's results stood out as he finished 10th.

Freshmen Cole Goike (Ray Twp., MI/Romeo) of men's epee and Logan Clements (Swartz Creek, MI/Swartz Creek) from men's sabre experienced their first NCAA Tournament action and Clements finished 17th while Goike placed 16th.

Freshman Eva Berndt (Fremont, MI/Providence Christian) was Detroit's lone female representative at the qualifiers as she finished in 16th place in women's sabre action on Saturday.

“Eva did what she could and worked hard to put up a great fight,” commented Dressell.

Senior's Coon, Lorenzo, and Nelson participated in their final bouts with Detroit. Coon and Lorenzo have been on the Titan fencing team for the past four years and Nelson has fenced for Detroit the past two seasons.

The final event of 2010-11 for the Titans will be the NCAA Championships to be held March 24-27 in Columbus, OH hosted by Ohio State as Detroit will wait for results this week to learn who will head to Columbus.