March 4, 2007

Notre Dame, Ind. - The Wayne State University men's fencing team finished eighth out of 18 schools with 405 points at the 2007 Midwest Fencing Conference team championship held on Sunday, March 4 at the University of Notre Dame.

In the men's and women's combined championship, Wayne State tied-for-fifth with Cleveland State at 950 points. Ohio State finished first with 1320 points and was followed by Notre Dame (1245), Northwestern (1110) and Michigan (980). Trailing the Warriors and the Vikings were Michigan State (885), Chicago (825), Indiana (810), Detroit (675), Wisconsin (625), Lawrence (550), Purdue (425), Xavier (420), Case Western Reserve (395), Illinois and Oberlin (370) and Minnesota (260).

WSU's men's epee squad of seniors Marek Petraszek (Gliwice, Poland) and Steve Znoy (Sterling Heights, Mich/Madison Heights Bishop Foley), and freshman Slava Zingerman (Ashkelon, Israel) entered the competition as the No. 1 seed and defeated Oberlin (5-0) in the first round. The Warriors were 5-0 victors over No. 8-Michigan State in the quarterfinals and 5-1 winners over #5-Cleveland State in the semifinals. Ohio State defeated WSU 5-2 in the championship match placing Wayne State second.

The men's sabre trio of senior Bobby Smith (Hillsborough, N.J.), junior John Rutherford (Sterling Heights, Mich./St. John) and freshman Patrick Tomlinson (Marysville, Mich.) were ranked 13th entering the team competition. Wayne State lost to the fourth-seeded Detroit Titans, 5-3, in the round of 16 but placed ninth in the competition.

Wayne State's men's foil contigent of freshman Brandon Isaac (Taylor, Mich./Truman), and redshirt freshmen Michal Brichacek (Windsor, Ont./St. Joseph's) and Cyrus Feldman (Clarkston, Mich.) was seeded 15th. The Warriors lost its first round match, 5-0, to eventual runner-up and No. 2 seed Notre Dame to finish 15th.

Select members of the Wayne State squad will head back to South Bend this Saturday (March 10) for the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Men's Overall Final Results
Place	School	Epee	Foil	Sabre	Total
1.	Ohio State	225	225	225	675
2.	Notre Dame	200	210	210	620
3.	Cleveland State	190	200	145	535
4t.	Michigan	175	190	120	485
4t.	Northwestern	155	130	200	485
6.	Indiana	165	110	165	440
7.	Detroit	85	175	175	435
8.	Wayne State	210	65	130	405
9t.	Case Western Reserve	120	120	155	395
9t.	Michigan State	145	165	85	395
11.	Chicago	110	75	190	375
12.	Wisconsin	55	145	100	300
13.	Purdue	100	85	110	295
14.	Illinois	30	155	75	260
15.	Oberlin	130	55	---	185
16.	Lawrence	75	100	---	175
17.	Xavier	40	40	55	135
18.	Minnesota	65	---	65	130