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 Slava Zingerman won the men's epee title at the 2008 Midwest Fencing Conference Championship. |
Feb. 23, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. - The 2008 Midwest Fencing Conference Championships were held on Saturday in the Joyce Center Fieldhouse at the University of Notre Dame. The first day of the championships featured all of the individual competition.
In the men's epee, Wayne State sophomore Slava Zingerman, the defending NCAA national champion, took first place. Zingerman compiled a 6-0 mark in pool play and was +20 in touches to earn the first seed for the direct elimination bouts featuring 58 competitors.
In the round of 64, Zingerman defeated Indiana's Rick Gunyon (15-9) and followed that with a 15-9 triumph over Ohio State's Mykhaylo Mazur. In the quarterfinals, he trounced Notre Dame's Conor Gettings (15-5) before upending UND's Karol Kostka (15-11) in the semifinals. Zingerman claimed the individual conference title with a 15-6 victory over OSU's Bishara Korkor.
Also competing for the Warriors in the epee was Joe Fresard. He had a 1-5 mark in pool play and was -10 in touches to earn the 49th seed. Fresard suffered a 15-10 setback to UND's Chris Pfarr in the round of 64.
In foil competition, Brandon Isaac placed 46th and Peter Franko was 51st.
Isaac went 1-4 in pool play and was -11 in touches. Franko was 1-4 in pool play and -17 in touches.
Isaac lost to Detroit's Brandon Coon 15-4 in the round of 64, while Franko feel to Ohio State's Joe Streb 15-2, also in the round of 64.
Competing for WSU in the men's saber were Jakub Gibczynski (6th), Patrick Tomlinson (40th) and Andrew Opalewski (46th).
Gibczynski went 5-0 to win pool 6. He was +20 in touches. Tomlinson had a 2-4 mark in pool play and was -6 in touches with Opalewski compiling a 1-5 record and -14 in touches.
In the round of 64, Opalewski fell, 15-8, to Chicago's Shane Blackman, while Tomlinson was upended by Michigan's Ted Chen 15-5. Meanwhile, Gibczynski received a first round bye then defeated Detroit's Doug Sollman, 15-6. He followed that with a 15-7 triumph over Notre Dame's Tom Horton. Gibczynski lost 15-12 in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Mikhail Momtselidze of Ohio State.
The Midwest Fencing Conference Championships will conclude on Sunday with the team competition.