(note: headshots of today's Midwest Regional winners will be added later to these blog postings, with other photos possibly accompanying Midwest wrapup posts later tonight.)
Ohio State two-time defending NCAA champion Andra Horanyi has won the Midwest Regional men's foil title, after outdueling Notre Dame freshman Enzo Castellani in the semifinals and besting OSU teammate Collin Sutter in the final bout. Sutter had advanced past another ND freshman, Reggie Bentley, in the semifinals (Castellani later topped Bentley in the third-place bout).
Notre Dame's four-fencer contingent in the Regional men's foil competition included senior All-American Mark Kubik (#5 Regional seed, placed 9th) and three talented newcomers, with #2 seed Gerek Meinhardt – the one-man U.S. men's foil team at the '08 Olympics – finishing fifth, despite maintaining his #2 seed after Sunday's pool bouts.
It will be interesting to see how the final allocation shakes out for the Midwest's four spots in the NCAA Championships men's foil field. Horanyi (#1 iniital seed) and Castellani (#4) appear to have helped their cause with Sunday's results, but it's unclear how Meinhardt and OSU All-American Ben Parkins (#3 seed; placed 6th) will fare when all the numbers are crunched. Sutter (#7 seed) and Bentley (#6) also now have to be in the mix – with there being a possibility that the OSU or ND coaches may have the option to choose what fencer(s) round out their NCAA pair.
1. Andras Horanyi (Ohio State; #1 initial seed/#2 after pools)
2. Collin Sutter (OSU; #7 initial seed/#3 after pools)
3. Enzo Castellani (ND; #4 initial seed/#9 after pools)
4. Reggie Bentley (ND; #6 initial seed/#5 after pools)
Andras Horanyi (left)
5. Gerek Meinhardt (Notre Dame; #2 initial seed/#1 after pools)
6. Ben Parkins (OSU; #3 initial seed; #4 after pools)
7. Craig Budzynski (Detroit; #8 initial seed/#7 after pools)
8. Joe Streb (OSU; #10 initial seed/#10 after pools)
9. Mark Kubik (ND; #5 initial seed/#8 after pools)
10. Liran Gross (Cleveland State; #9 initial seed/#6 after pools)
11. Michael Purdy-Sachs (Detroit ... #11 initial seed)
12. Tim Mulligan (Wayne State ... #14 inital seed)
13. Rafi Nersessian (Wayne State ... #13 initial seed)
14. Brad Coon (Detroit ... #12 initial seed)
15. Michael Ramlow (Wayne State ... #15 initial seed)
16. Stephen Montgomery (Cleveland State ... #16 initial seed)