Schedule of Events

DETROIT -- The Titan fencing teams will host the annual UDM Invitational Sunday at Calihan Hall. The event will start at 8:00 a.m. and run for the duration of the day as teams from Xavier, Oakland, Wayne State, Michigan, Michigan State and the men's team from Northwestern will all be in competition as all are welcome to take in the one-day festivities.

This will also serve as the season opener for the Titans after having a preliminary event on Dec. 4 as the Istvan Danosi was held at Wayne State. In that tournament, five medals were claimed by Detroit. Senior Michael Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Port Huron Northern & Independent Studies) captured the silver medal in men's foil giving him a pair of silver medals in four years at the tournament but ending his run of two-straight gold medals. Junior Clint Mikek (St. Louis, MI/St. Louis) took home a bronze in men's epee after a fine performance in the direct elimination rounds and newcomer 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.
 
The 2011-12 Titans feature a fully loaded roster. The women's team features 11 underclassmen with six sophomores including five returners and five freshmen while the men's team has 13 fencers altogether.
               
Last season, the NCAA Regional Qualifier Tournament at Wayne State featured 2011-12 Titan returners Purdy-Sachs, Cole Goike (Ray Twp., MI/West Catholic), Yaroslav Ivanov (Louisville, KY/Ballard) on the men's side and Berndt for the women. Senior Purdy-Sachs led the men's squad a year ago reaching the NCAA Fencing Championships in Columbus, OH as one of the top-24ranked individuals in men's foil in the country at the NCAA Division I, II, or III level. He became the first Titan to make the tournament since Jerik Jelnik (sabre) in 2008. Purdy-Sachs finished 20th overall posting eight wins over the two-day tournament
               
The women will feature a full team with sophomore's Berndt and Ariel Skellett (Flint, MI/Powers Catholic) leading the sabre squad. Berndt was the lone female fencer, and one of eight Titans overall, to reach the NCAA Regional Qualifier a year ago. Berndt advanced to the qualifier after leading all female fencers with a 10-7 record at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships in her freshman season. Sophomore foilists Sarah Armitage (Canton, MI/Plymouth) and Shannon Canavan (Lake Orion, MI/Lake Orion) return in addition to Paige Zmudczynski (Fraser, MI/Dakota) with the epee weapon.
               
Mikek and four sophomores also return as Goike, Kyle Cisco (Brownstown Twp., MI/Oscar Carlson), Ivanov and Elijah Robertson (Plymouth, MI/Salem) round out the sophomore class. In his freshman year, Ivanov was named to the Midwest Conference All-League honorable mention team after placing tenth at the Conference Championships.
               
There are two family connections this year as Phil Nelson (Trenton, MI/Gabriel Richard) is the younger brother of Tim Nelson who graduated from UDM in the spring and was a two-year epeeist at Detroit and Kaylah Berndt is the younger sister of Eva Berndt.
 
After this weekend, the Titans will hit the road for a pair of competitions in New York. On Jan. 21, they will compete in the West Point Duals in West Point, NY and then will be part of the Vassar Quads in Poughkeepsie, NY on Jan. 22.