Student-Athletes from the Detroit Titans men's and women's fencing team were honored at the annual awards banquet held Sunday afternoon in the Titan Club at Calihan Hall. Senior captain Craig Budzynski (Grand Rapids, MI/Forest Hills) and senior Ashlee McLemore (Detroit, MI/Dominican) garnered the highest honors being name team Most Valuable Player.
Sophomore Tom Lorenzo (Avon, OH/St. Ignatius) and junior women's team captain Ashley Colbert (Washington, MI/Romeo), received the Most Improved Award while freshman Mike Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Home School) and Samantha LaFrance (Macomb, MI/Dakota) were named Newcomer of the Year.
Budzynski recently received the distinguished President's Award which is presented to the outstanding senior who best typifies the image of the complete student-athlete. As team captain, showed an impressive balance of maturity and dedication and provided leadership which helped the entire team perform and maximize their potential. This season, Craig claimed his fourth consecutive individual foil title at the Istvan Danosi Michigan Open and finished with a team-best 71-25 overall record. He also helped the foil team to a third place finish at the Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) Championships and turned in solid performance at the NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier earning at-large bid considerations for the NCAA Championships. Budzynski also was named the 2008-09 Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
McLemore, a member of the sabre squad, posted a team-best 65-32 record and claimed first-place honors at the Istvan Danosi Michigan Open. She went 10-2 at the West Point Duals helping the team secure its first win over Fairleigh Dickinson and recorded a 15-10 record to lead the team to its first MFC win over Cleveland State at the Northwestern Mega-Meet. McLemore also led the way going 20-5 helping the Titans tally a season-high four wins against the California Institute of Technology (17-9 each), Oberlin (16-11) and Lawrence (16-11) at the Notre Duals. She also was the top UDM performer finishing 13th out of 54 fencers at the MFC Championships helping the team finish 15th overall. She also finished in 11th place overall in the sabre event at the NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier earning an at-large bid consideration for the NCAA Championships.
This season, Lorenzo increased his win total to 27 from 10 last a year ago on the sabre squad. Helped the sabre team complied a 26-10 overall mark at Notre Dame duals leading to a season-high four wins over Michigan State (15-12), Oberlin (19-8), Lawrence (24-3) and California Institute of Technology (15-12).Also aided the sabre team earned a ninth place finish at the MFC Championships closing out the competition with three consecutive wins against Lawrence (5-4), Purdue (5-2) and Indiana (5-2).
Colbert recorded 39 wins on the season after switching to the foil weapon. She helped lead the team to its first MFC win over Cleveland State at the Northwestern Mega-Meet and was the foil squad's top performer with a 16-13 overall mark helping the Titans tally a season-high four wins against the California Institute of Technology (17-9 each), Oberlin (16-11) and Lawrence (16-11) at the Notre Duals. Colbert placed 34th out of 72 fencers helping the team finish 15th overall at the MFC Championships and was UDM's only foil representative at the NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier advancing to the elimination round and placing 16th overall.
Purdy-Sachs ranked second on the men's team with a 68-27 overall record. He finished second in his first collegiate event at the Istvan Danosi Michigan Open after falling to Budzynski in the title bout and helped the Titans down Hunter College (20-7) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (19-8) to record their first two wins of the season at the West Point Duals. Purdy-Sachs went 14-8 at the Northwestern Mega-Meet and helped the team chalked up a season-high four wins at the Notre Dame Duals with victories over Michigan State (15-12), Oberlin (19-8), Lawrence (24-3) and California Institute of Technology (15-12). He was the lone Titan fencer who traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico to compete in the United States Fencing Association (USFA) Junior Olympics which is the premier competition for Cadets (under 17 years old) and Juniors (Under 20) finishing 122nd. Purdy-Sachs helped the foil team to a third place finish at the MFC Championships and despite suffering from the flu, went 3-4 in foil pool play and recorded elimination round wins over Wayne State's Tim Mulligan (15-10) along with a tough match against teammate Brad Coon (15-13) to finish 11th overall at the NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifier.
LaFrance joined the team late in the season and recorded 13 wins despite have no prior fencing experience. In her first collegiate competition, she helped the Sabre team post a combined 30-6 overall record in the four victories going a perfect 9-0 against Lawrence, 8-1 versus Oberlin with a 7-2 and 6-3 mark versus Cal Tech which helped the team to a season-high four wins against the California Institute of Technology (17-9 each), Oberlin (16-11) and Lawrence (16-11) at the Notre Dame Duals. In only her second collegiate meet, LaFrance placed 20th at the MFC Championships helping the team finish 15th overall.
Men's Team Varsity Letterwinners
Dan Bingham (St. Clair Shores, MI/ Fraser - Calvin College) - Junior
Brad Coon (Jenison, MI/Hudsonville) - Sophomore
Mike Purdy-Sachs
Women's Team Varsity Letterwinners
Hanna Borland (Ferndale, MI/Ferndale) -Freshman
Elizabeth Burgess (Port Huron, MI/Port Huron) – Freshman
Ashley Colbert
Brittany Cook (Burton, MI/Owosso) - Freshman
Allison Devin (Lake Orion, MI/Lake Orion) - Freshman
Samantha LaFrance
Ashlee McLemore
Megan McMahon (Macomb, MI/Dakota) - Freshman
