COLUMBUS, Ohio (2/26/18) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's fencing team placed sixth at the 2018 Midwest Fencing Conference Championship, behind strong finishes from both the men's foil and sabre squads. The competition was held at Ohio State University on Saturday and Sunday.
The Titans finished sixth out of 21 teams with 600 points on the strength of a third-place podium finish by foil and a fourth-place effort from sabre. Detroit Mercy was just 35 points out of fourth place and 65 back of third. Ohio State swept all three weapons to take the league championship, with the University of Michigan placing second.
In men's foil, the sixth-seeded Titans knocked off Illinois, 5-2, with junior
Algird Szumlas going 3-0 and junior
Josh Blackburn recording a 2-0 mark. Detroit Mercy then defeated No. 3 Purdue, 5-2, with Szumlas again tallying a 3-0 mark and Blackburn and
Ethan Powers each earning single victories.
In the foil semifinals, the Titans fell 5-1 to Chicago State, but came back in the third-place match, defeating Michigan by a 3-0 margin. Powers opened the matchup with a win and Szumlas followed as Detroit Mercy led 2-0. After Michigan nabbed a point, Szumlas and Powers again went back-to-back and Detroit Mercy led 4-1.
Szumlas closed out the match, 5-2, defeating Michigan's Michael Soukar by a 4-2 margin in the clinching bout.
Men's sabre took fourth overall in its weapon. The Titans, seeded fourth, opened up with a 5-2 win over Wisconsin as sophomore
Wiley Dressell went 3-0 and
Joshua Sexton and
John Engelman each picking up bout wins.
Detroit Mercy then topped Northwestern by a 5-4 margin with Dressell again going 3-0 and Engelman picking up the clinching victory. In the semifinals of the sabre, the Titans faced No. 1 Ohio State and fell, 5-1, with Dressell earning his seventh win of the day.
In the third-place match against Wayne State, Dressell went 2-1 and Engelman earned a win to even the match 3-3, but Wayne State won the final two bouts to grab a 5-3 win.
The Titans finished 14th in epee as the red, white and blue fell to third-seeded Michigan in the opening round. Sophomore
Tahj Butler went 2-1 against the Wolverines, but Detroit Mercy fell to Michigan by a 5-2 margin. The Titans got to the first round by defeating Oakland, 5-2. Butler won all three of his bouts, with
Christopher Morrison and
Thomas Borden winning the other two.
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Individual Competition
The Titans fenced in the individual portion of the conference championship on Saturday. Three fencers place in the top 10 in their respective weapons with Dressell placing sixth in sabre, Butler earning eighth in epee and Szumlas finishing ninth in foil.
Dressell, who was seeded No. 7 in sabre, won two-straight direct elimination bouts 15-5 before falling in the quarterfinals to No. 2 seed Frederik Koch of Ohio State, 15-8. Dressell then defeated Declan Forth of Cleveland State, 15-14, in the consolation bracket before being edged 15-14 in the fifth-place bout to Joseph Davis of Lawrence.
Butler was seeded No. 8 in epee and won three-straight direct elimination bouts, including topping No. 9 seed Henry Kisthardt of Wayne State in the round of 16 by a 15-13 margin to reach the quarterfinals. Butler fell to No. 16 seed John Robert Culpepper of Ohio State in the quarters, 15-10, to finish in eighth place overall.
Szumlas was the fifth-seeded foilist and got to the round of 16 with ease, winning 15-3 and 15-2 in the direct elimination bouts. He then dropped a 15-12 bout in the round of 16 to place ninth overall in foil.
Also in foil, Blackburn won his pool, going 4-0 and winning his first direct elimination bout 15-5, before dropping a 15-9 DE bout to Benjamin Wu of Case Western Reserve. Blackburn finished tied-for-21st.
Ethan Powers went 3-2 in pool play before dropping his first DE bout and ultimately finishing 38th.
Mikael Paulik went 2-3 in pool play and finished 43rd for the Titans.
In sabre, Engelman automatically qualified for the direct elimination bouts and won his first DE by a 15-3 margin over Chicago State's Abraham White. He then fell to Chicago State's Nikita Dulin in the round of 16, 15-7. Engelman finished in 17th overall. Sexton went 3-2 in pool play before dropping his first DE bout to Northwestern's Alexis Martineau, 15-6. Sexton placed 38th.
In epee, Morrison and Borden each earned a pool play victories and placed 59th and 62nd overall, respectively. Newcomer
Ian Smith was 69th in epee for the Titans.
Up Next
Detroit Mercy next prepares for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, which will be held on Sunday, March 11 in Cleveland, Ohio. Several individuals will compete at the chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships from March 23-26 at Penn State.
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