COLUMBUS, Ohio (2/25/2019) -- University of Detroit Mercy men's fencers Wiley Dressell and Algird Szumlas each finished in the top-10 individually Saturday at the 2019 Midwest Fencing Conference Championships, held at French Field House on the campus of Ohio State University.

The Titans fenced in the individual competition on Saturday before competing in the team portion of the event on Sunday. The Detroit Mercy men's squad placed eighth out of 19 squads on Sunday with a total of 510 points. Overall between the men's and women's fencing squads, the Titans placed 10th out of 19 teams.

Individually, junior Wiley Dressell was sixth in the men's sabre competition, while senior Algird Szumlas earned his fourth top-10 finish of his Titan career with a ninth-place effort in foil. Both earned All-Conference laurels with their finishes on Saturday.

Individual Competition (Saturday // Feb. 23, 2019)
Dressell earned a bye past pool play and was seeded fifth in sabre entering the direct elimination bouts. Dressell, after a first-round bye, advanced in two-straight DE bouts by 15-6 and 15-5 margins, the latter coming over 12th-seeded Peter Murray of the University of Michigan. He then fell to No. 4 seed Roscoe Swartz, 15-7, of Ohio State in the quarterfinals to finish sixth overall. Swartz would end up finishing runner-up. Dressell placed inside the top-10 for the third-straight season.

Szumlas placed ninth overall in foil individually for the second-straight year. He was seeded No. 1 overall and after a first-round bye, won 15-3 in his first bout before falling narrowly in the round of 16, by a 15-14 margin to Joe Tiberi of Purdue. Classmate Josh Blackburn went 4-2 in pool play (+7 indicator) and was seeded 24th before he won his first DE bout, 15-6. Blackburn then fell to No. 9 seeded John Wenger of Cleveland State.

In sabre, senior Joshua Sexton was the No. 10 seed entering direct elimination bouts and after a first-round bye, fell to 23rd-seeded Dylan Tallman on Denison. Also in sabre, senior James Baker went 2-4 in pool play with an even indicator (21 touches scored, 21 touches received) and then won his first DE bout, 15-10, before falling to No. 8 David DeClark of Wayne State.

Freshman newcomer Jaydon Alojipan placed 42nd in men's foil. He went 2-3 in pool play before falling in his first direct elimination bout, 15-4. In epee, junior Christopher Morrison placed 48th after going 2-4 in pool play, while freshman Peter Swanney was 57th, sophomore Ian Smith finished 59th and freshman Bryce Sturgis followed in 60th.

Team Competition (Sunday // Feb. 24, 2019)
The Titans placed eighth overall (510 points) as a team in the team portion of the event, behind Purdue (550 points). Ohio State won the team event with 810 points, while Northwestern finished second (700 points) and Michigan rounding out the top-three with 680 points.

As a weapon, men's foil finished sixth. Men's foil was seeded fifth entering the competition and defeated Michigan State, 5-2, in the first round. The squad then fell to Chicago, 5-4, before topping Michigan, 5-1, in the consolation semifinal. The Titans then fell 5-4 to Lawrence in the fifth-place match. Szumlas went 3-0 against MSU and then Szumlas and Blackburn each went 2-0 against the Wolverines. Against Lawrence, Blackburn and Szumlas each recorded 2-1 marks in the 5-4 setback.

Men's sabre placed seventh as a weapon. The Titans defeated Purdue, 5-3, in the first round, before falling to top-seeded Ohio State, 5-2. Detroit Mercy then fell to Wayne State, 5-3, in the consolation bracket, before topping Chicago, 5-2, in the seventh-place match. Dressell led the sabre team with a mark of 11-1, including two wins over OSU.

In men's epee, the Titans topped Bowling Green 5-3 with Morrison going 3-0 and Sturgis and Swanney both adding victories. The Titans them fell to Wayne State, 5-0.

Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns to competition next weekend, with several Titans heading to the 2019 NCAA Midwest Regionals on Saturday, March 9, held in South Bend, Ind. at the University of Notre Dame.