The Wayne State University men’s and women’s fencing teams are set to compete at the Central Collegiate Fencing Conference (CCFC) Championships this weekend. The event will take place on Saturday, February 21, and Sunday, February 22, at Denison University’s Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse.
The team events are scheduled for Saturday, with individual competitions following on Sunday. Last season, the Wayne State men’s team secured a second-place overall finish. The men’s epee squad took second place, while both the foil and sabre teams finished third. On the women’s side, the epee team also earned a second-place trophy after recording five bout wins.
This year, 17 male student-athletes from Wayne State will participate across epee, foil, and sabre disciplines. The women’s squad will have eight competitors.
Men’s epee participants include Justin Chenh (Falls Church, Va.), Shuayb Dinkins (Kissimmee, Fla.), Mahmoud Elsayed (Tanta, Egypt), Bryce Heim (Oconomowoc, Wis.), and Cameron King (Laurel, Md.). For women’s epee, Salma Abdrabou (Cairo, Egypt) and Reka Galfalvy (Budapest, Hungary) will represent Wayne State.
The men’s foil lineup consists of Mitchell Gatrell (Livonia, Mich.), Sam Gneuhs (Mason, Ohio), Finn McIsaac (West Bloomfield, Mich.), Jakub Oronowicz (Clarkston, Mich.), Carlos Santos (Grand Rapids, Mich.), and Lukas Tsao (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.). Competing in women’s foil are Anabella Acurero Gonzalez (Valencia, Venezuela) and Ludovica Mancini (Rome).
Men’s sabre fencers include Hunter Battisfore (Hancock), Connor Desautels (Redding), Gabriel Dumoulin (Newtown), Brendan Goeddeke (Sterling Heights), Eyad Marouf (Alexandria), and Gwyd Perry (Bloomfield). Women’s sabre competitors are Shriya Bangalore (Frisco), Reagan Byars (Warren), Mikhala Rivers (Maple Grove), and Mehreen Siddiqui (Canton).
Saturday’s schedule features matches starting at 8:30 AM against Lawrence for women and Cleveland State for men. Additional matches throughout the day include contests against Cleveland State/Lawrence at 9:40 AM; Detroit Mercy at 10:50 AM; Northwestern/Ohio State at 1:40 PM; Ohio State at 2:50 PM for women; Denison at 4:00 PM for women; followed by an awards ceremony at 5:30 PM.
On Sunday morning at 8:00 AM is the men’s individual competition. The women’s individual bouts begin at 12:30 PM.
Wayne State Warriors Women’s Fencing is part of intercollegiate athletics as an NCAA Division II program based in Detroit. The team competes within the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (official website).
