SOUTH BEND, Ind. (3/9/2019) -- A trio of University of Detroit Mercy men's fencers competed Saturday afternoon at the 2019 NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, hosted by the University of Notre Dame at the Castellan Family Fencer Center. The three Titans fenced for spots in the NCAA National Championships, which are later this month.

Junior Wiley Dressell (Royal Oak, Mich. / Royal Oak) was the top finisher for the Titans, placing eighth in sabre. Senior foilists Josh Blackburn (West Bloomfield, Mich. / West Bloomfield) and Algird Szumlas (Glendora, Calif. / Glendora) finished 11th and 13th, respectively, for Detroit Mercy in foil.

Dressell, was the eighth-seeded fencer in sabre out of 11 competitors, and went 3-7 in his bouts against his foes. Dressell won all three of his bouts over Wayne State fencers, with all three of them coming by convincing 5-1 margins. He had a -12 indicator on the afternoon, tallying 26 touches scored against 38 touches received. Dressell, making his third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship, placed in the top-10 for the third-straight season. He also had three bout wins last season en route to a seventh-place finish.

Dressell was the top finisher among men's sabreuers not from Notre Dame or Ohio State, likely locking up a spot into the NCAA Fencing Championships with the official announcements coming Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. Five in the sabre from the Midwest region will be selected with OSU and Notre Dame only being allowed to send two fencers per weapon.

Szumlas went 5-10 overall on the day against the 15 other competitors in foil. Szumlas earned a 5-0 triumph over Wayne State's Brendan Johnson, a picked up a trio of victories over Cleveland State fencers (all by 5-3 or better), while also earning a win over his teammate, Blackburn. He was competitive in all of his bouts as evidenced by his -4 indicator (47 touches scored, 51 touches received). He had a 5-4 setback to Ohio State's Nathan Wriedt, who placed third, and was on the other side of four more 5-3 bouts. Szumlas, who has more than 200 career victories in the red, white and blue, was fencing in his fourth-straight regional championship.

Blackburn, making his third regional appearance, was seeded 14th, ultimately finishing one spot better in 13th in his final collegiate fencing action. He went 4-11 on the day, picking up victories over Ohio State's William Gaziano (5-2), WSU's Johnson (5-4), Cleveland State's Jakarri Kent (5-2) and Cleveland State's Sawyer Cornett (5-1). Blackburn had a -22 indicator on the afternoon with 37 touches scored agaisnt 59 touches received.

The Titan fencers will await their fate for selection into the 2019 NCAA Fencing National Championships, which are set for Thursday-Sunday, March 21-24 in Cleveland, Ohio at the Wolstein Center. The last Titan to qualify for the national finals was Szumlas in 2017. A full list of qualifiers will be released Tuesday, March 12 at 1 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.