DETROIT (3/11/2017) -- Six University of Detroit Mercy men's fencers competed Saturday against the top competition in the region at the 2017 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships from Wayne State University. Each fencer competed against all other fencers in their respective weapon (epee, foil, sabre), earning wins based on a first-to-five touches format.

Sophomore Algird Szumlas, making his second appearance in the NCAA Midwest Regionals, finished in seventh place in the foil out of 11 fencers, one spot better than last season. Szumlas earned four victories in his 10 bouts, sporting an indicator of -13 (26 touches scored, 39 touches received).

He was the top finisher among men's foilists not from Notre Dame or Ohio State, likely locking up a spot into the NCAA Fencing Championships with the official announcements coming Tuesday. Five men's foilists from the Midwest region will be selected with OSU and Notre Dame only being allowed to send two fencers per weapon.

Szumlas earned wins over Cleveland State's Logan Eskew, the Lawrence pair of Kai Kramer and Nathan Schlesinger and his teammate, sophomore Josh Blackburn. His win over Schlesinger was a 2-1 overtime victory that helped him clinch the seventh spot. The triumph avenged a 3-2 overtime loss in last year's NCAA Midwest Regionals to Schlesinger.

Seniors Aaron Dittel (epee) and Austin Carlisle (sabre) wrapped up their Titan careers Saturday, making their fourth-consecutive appearances in the NCAA Midwest Regionals, with each competing in all four seasons in the tournament as Titans. Dittel placed 10th in the epee, while Carlisle, who entered the tournament with 51 wins on the season, was 12th in the sabre.

"Austin has fenced with me all through middle school, high school and as his personal coach and in college now, you couldn't ask for a better kid," Titan fencing head coach Todd Dressell said. "He work's hard, he's smart. He's competing at the highest level. It's the nature of this tournament, it's very tough. It's really high stress and really high talent. By participating in this tournament and in all four seasons, both Aaron and Austin, you are fencing as an elite fencer at a high level."

Dittel had an indicator of -13 on the day (36 touches scored, 49 touches received), posting three wins total. He earned victories over Cleveland State's Burton Hirschmann, Lawrence's Jakub Nowak and Lawrence's Connor Schurr.

Freshman Wiley Dressell earned a ninth-place finish in the sabre in his first NCAA Midwest Regional Championship and is an at-large contender for the NCAA Championships in the weapon. Dressell earned three triumphs out of his 11 bouts and had an indicator of -19 (28 touches scored, 47 touches received). He earned wins over Cleveland State's Aidan Gillespie and Lawrence's Joe Davis and had multiple touches in eight different bouts.

Freshman Tahj Butler also placed ninth out of 12 fencers in the epee's first NCAA Regional appearance. Butler won four of his 11 bouts overall, recording an indicator of -12 (34 touches scored, 46 touches received). He earned wins over Hirschmann of CSU, Wayne State's Henry Kisthardt, Schurr of Lawrence and his teammate, Dittel. He had several other close bouts, including falling 5-3 to Notre Dame's Dylan French.

Blackburn placed 10th in the foil for the Titans. He picked up a victory over Eskew of CSU and was close in several other bouts falling by 5-4 margins two times. He had a -20 indicator (25 touches scored, 45 touches received).

The NCAA Fencing Championships field will be announced on Tuesday, March 14. The men's fencing national championships are slated for March 23-24 in Fishers, Indiana, at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum and hosted by the University of Notre Dame.