The Detroit Titans men's fencing team had a solid outing at the Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) Championships held this weekend on the campus of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Ind. The foil squad led the way with a third place finish. With all individual and team results combined, the Titans finished 8th overall out of 20 teams while head coach Todd Dressell was named Coach of the Year.
The foil team, consisting of senior Craig Budzynski (Grand Rapids, MI/Forest Hills), sophomore Brad Coon (Jenison, MI/Hudsonville), who was hampered by injury, and freshman Mike Purdy-Sachs (Port Huron, MI/Home School) notched 5-2 wins over Purdue and Michigan, fell 5-2 to Notre Dame and defeated Indiana 5-2 to claim the third place trophy which was the highest squad finish in the last nine years under the helm of coach Dressell.
“I am happy with our entire team's performance,“ said DresselI. “It was good to bring home some hardware so congratulations goes out to the men's foil team. I was also in complete shock that I was voted Coach of the Year but am very grateful and honored. This award would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of each member of the team and our assistant coach, Inga Chao.”
The men's sabre team earned a ninth place finish. Junior Doug Sollman (Sterling Heights, MI/Stevenson) and sophomores Michael Danelia (Moscow, Russia/West Bloomfield) and Tom Lorenzo (Avon, OH/St. Ignatius) opened with a 5-4 setback to Oberlin and closed out the competition with three consecutive wins against Lawrence (5-4), Purdue (5-2) and Indiana (5-2).
The epee team of junior Dan Bingham (St. Clair Shores, MI/ Fraser - Calvin College) and freshmen Colin Scott (Spruce, MI/Alcona) and Elliott Trombley (Pleasant Ridge, MI/Ferndale) garnered a 16th place finish defeating Bowling Green 5-3 followed by setbacks to Ohio State (5-0), Chicago (5-1), and two close matches against Minnesota (5-4) and Wisconsin (5-4).
In the foil individual competition, Purdy-Sachs was the team's top performer finishing 13th out of 66 fencers followed by Budzynski in 24th. Coon did not fence due to injury.
Danelia led the way for the sabre team finishing 26th out 67fencers while Sollman and Lorenzo finished 35th and 43rd respectively.
In epee action, Scott paced the squad with a 38th place finish followed by Bingham in 59th and Trombley in 72nd.
The team travels Columbus, Ohio for the NCAA Regional Qualifier held at Ohio State on Sat.-Sun, Mar. 7-8.
