COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Cleveland State University fencing team took eighth place among 23 squads in the team portion of the Midwest Conference Championships Sunday inside Ohio State's French Field House.
The Vikings finished with 965 points and finished ahead of squads such as Purdue, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Detroit Mercy.
The women's foil team provided one of the top highlights for CSU. The squad entered the competition seeded eighth. However, the Vikings went 3-1 on the day, defeating Illinois (5-2), fourth-seeded Wisconsin (5-3) and sixth-seeded Lawrence to finish in fifth place. CSU's lone loss came to eventual champion Ohio State.
On the men's side, CSU went 2-2 in both the epee and foil competitions to finish in sixth place in each of those events.
The epee team beat Oberlin (5-1) to begin the day. After dropping a 5-4 decision in the quarterfinals, they bounced back to beat Wisconsin (5-1) in their next match. The foil squad topped Wisconsin (5-4) and Wayne State (5-2) among their four matches.
The women's saber squad finished in ninth place while the men's saber team was 12th.
CSU was seventh (565) in men's-only standings while the Vikings were ninth in women's-only standings (400).
Cleveland State will continue its season this weekend at the Arnold Fencing Classic, its final tuneup before NCAA competition begins.