Jan. 29, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. - The Wayne State University men's fencing team competed on the second day of this year's Notre Dame Dual meets on January 29 compiling a 5-3 record.

WSU recorded wins over Detroit Mercy (16-11), University of Chicago (20-7), Cleveland State (17-10), Oberlin College (26-1) and Lawrence University (17-10). The three losses came against teams nationally-ranked in the USFCA College Fencing Coaches' Poll: #1-Ohio State (21-6), #2-Notre Dame (22-5), and #10-Duke (20-7). The men have a 6-14 record this season.

The epee team went 5-3 during the competition. Junior Marek Petraszek led the epee squad. He ended the meet with an impressive 17-3 overall record. Junior Steve Znoy went 11-9 and freshman Matt Crist compiled a 10-10 record.

WSU's lone competitor in men's foil, Joe Langdorf, compiled a 9-12 overall record.

Junior Bobby Smith led the young sabre squad, finishing 16-5. Junior Marshall McClendon finished 11-10 and fellow junior Ryan Ferrante went 10-11.

Noteworthy individual victories of the meet came against the Notre Dame Irish squad, as Marek Petraszek defeated Aaron Adjemian ('05 NCAA qualify), and Joe Langdorf defeated ND's Frank Bontempo. Other bouts of note included wins for Marek Petraszek over OSU's Christan Riviera ('05 NCAA All-American) and Steve Znoy's win over OSU'S Dennis Tolkachev ('04 and '05 NCAA first team All-American). Yet, the biggest surprise of the competition came from junior Marshall McClendon who defeated (5-0) UDM's Jaroslaw Jelinek ('05 All-American).

The Warriors will have three weeks off before the next competition. They will compete at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championship on Feb. 25.