Wayne State junior Slava Zingerman – the two--time defending NCAA champion – overcame a slow start to the day (he was seeded 6th entering the quarterfinals) to win the Midwest Regional men's epee title, defeating Ohio State All-American Jason Pryor in a 15-12 title bout. Zingerman earlier had won his semifinal bout vs. Notre Dame All-American Karol Kostka (last weekend's MFC champion), while Pryor advanced past a semifinal matchup against OSU teammate Igor Tolkachev – who then lost to Kostka in the third-place bout.
The ND duo of Brent Kelly and Greg Schoolcraft met in the fifth-place bout (won by Schoolcraft), while OSU's Sean Harder defeated Cleveland State's John Marshall in the seventh-place matchup.
The Midwest has five allocated men's epee spots for the NCAA Championships, with four of them fairly locked in entering today's action (Zingerman, Pryot, Kostka and Tolkachev). There appeared to be several contenders for the fifth spot, among them the ND trio of Kelly (#5 Regional seed), Schoolcraft (#9) and sophomore Jacob Osborne (#8), plus WSU's Mykhaylo Mazur. Kelly (at Columbia) and Mazur ('07 All-American at OSU) both are transfers with NCAA Tournament experience, while Osborne is competing in his first season of college fencing. With Osborne placing 10th and Mazur a surprisingly low 11th, the final allocation spot might come down to whether Scoolcraft's fifth-place win is enough to bump him ahead of Kelly in the selection formula (40% regular season; 60% Regional) ... with Kelly the probably the favorite to earn the berth.
The Midwest Regional is close to wrapping up, so the CF360 blog will be focusing on those bouts before shifting full focus back to the Northeast.
MEN'S EPEE FINAL RESULTS – MIDWEST REGIONAL
1. Slava Zingerman (Wayne State; #1 initial seed)
2. Jason Pryor (Ohio State; #2 initial seed)
3. Karol Kostka (ND; #3 initial seed)
4. Igor Tolkachev (OSU; #4 initial seed)
5. Greg Schoolcraft (Notre Dame; #9 initial seed)
Slava Zingerman (left)
6. Brent Kelly (ND; #5 initial seed)
7. Sean Harder (OSU; #11 initial seed)
8. John Marshall (Cleveland State; #10 initial seed)
9. Eric Gurnowski (OSU; #6 initial seed)
10. Jacob Osborne (ND; #8 initial seed)
11. Mykhaylo Mazur (WSU; #7 initial seed)
12. Andy Snell (OSU; #12 initial seed)
13. Jordan Hoyt (WSU; #13 initial seed)
14. Joe Fresard (WSU; #14 initial seed)