SOUTH BEND, Ind.- The Cleveland State Fencing team has posted its best finish at the Midwest Conference Championships since the team's creation in 1931.

 After posting a 22-13 record for the men's team, the best season since 2007, and the women going 15-20, the best record since 1997, the Vikings have posted a fourth place conference finish.

The men's team was led by the saber squad who finished third after defeating Lawrence in a very close match of 5-4. This is the first third place in an individual team since 2008 when the men's team took second in foil and third in epee.  Foil followed closely behind the saber squad finishing fourth, losing to Wayne State foil squad. Rounding out the men's teams finish was epee finishing fifth, continuing the tradition of strong epee at Cleveland State. Since 2007 the men' epee team has finished in the top five in the Midwest Conference except for one year.  The men's team finished with a third place finish at the conferences. This has only occurred twice before, in back to back years in 2007 and 2008.

 The women's team also performed well despite being very young with over half the team being first year student athletes. The women's foil squad led the women's team finished seventh after defeating Indiana 5-2 to lock in the place.  The women's saber squad seeded initially sixth but ran into Wayne State early and had trouble overcoming their top saber fencer Kaja Klodowska, who finished seventh on the day before the individual event. Klodowska also competed at the 2013 NCAA Championships. After the initial loss to Wayne State the saber team swept through its remaining opponents 5-1 against each school to finished ninth. The women's epee team, the youngest squad for the Vikings also performed well. The squad was initially seeded 12^th for the day and lost their first round against University of Michigan 5-1. The epee squad then defeated Case Western Reserve 5-1. The Vikings final round was against Xavier who the squad defeated 5-3 to finish 11^th posting the best women's epee squad finish in seven years.

"The whole team really stepped up this weekend to finish strong. Going into the weekend the teams goal was to finish seventh. The team clearly surpassed it and did so by supporting each other throughout the whole weekend. I am very proud of how everyone stepped up to help the team reach 4^th place at the conference," said Coach Tulleners.

"On Saturday during the individual event the team struggled a bit but supported each other throughout the day. On Sunday during the team competition the team came together as a complete cohesive unit for the record setting 4^th place finish," said Assistant Coach Brooke Snyder about the weekend.

The Vikings will be competing in Detroit on March 8 at the NCAA Regionals.