Feb. 25, 2006

Notre Dame, Ind. - By Wojciech Dudek,
WSU Sports Information Student Assistant

The Wayne State University men's fencing squad competed at the Midwest Fencing Conference (MFC) Championship on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the University of Notre Dame bringing home one gold medal.

Junior Marek Petraszek, the No. 3 seed, won his first MFC epee title defeating Notre Dame's Greg Howard, 15-9, in the championship bout. In the semi-final bout Petraszek defeated Ohio State's Dennis Tolkachev, an NCAA 2004 and 2005 First Team All-American, 15-8 in a semifinal bout. Petraszek cruised to the title going unbeaten throughout the entire competition. Freshman Matt Crist completed his MFC debut with a 13th-place finish. Crist lost a thrilling bout to Michigan's Simon Maisel (13-12). Fellow epee team member, Steve Znoy finished 23rd.

WSU's lone competitor in foil, Joe Langdorf, finished 13th. He lost a decisive bout to OSU's Dimitri Kirk-Gordon (15-3), after compiling a 5-1 record in pool play.

Junior Bobby Smith, competing in the sabre, finished seventh. Smith went 6-0 in pool play, and after a 15-6 win over Michigan's Meng Zhong, lost a quarterfinal bout, 15-12, to ND's Patrick Ghattas. Junior Marshall McClendon finished 20th, while fellow junior Ryan Ferrante placed 24th.

The Warriors are back in action next weekend, March 4, at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Cleveland (hosted by Cleveland State). WSU will wrap up its season, March 16-19, at the NCAA Championship hosted by Rice University in Houston, Texas.