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Wayne State University Athletics

Ahmed Elsayed
Ahmed Elsayed (right) won seven bouts on the first day of action at the NCAA Championships on Thursday.

Men's Fencing Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Elsayed and Marouf Compete on First Day of NCAA Championships

The pair of Warriors will finish the final two rounds of round robin play on Friday, with hopes of advancing to the finals.

DURHAM, N.C. -- The 2023 NCAA Men's Fencing Championships began on Thursday inside Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University, and Wayne State University men's fencing representatives Ahmed Elsayed (Tanta, Gharbia, Egypt) and Eyad Marouf (Alexandria, Egypt) both competed on the first day of action. 

In the men's epee competition, Elsayed sits in 14th place after finishing with a 7-8 record through three rounds of action.  Of his eight bout losses, however, four were by one point.  He lost 5-4 to Ian Adler (NYU) and Ryan Griffiths (Penn State), 1-0 to Paul Veltrup (Ohio State), and 3-2 to Rico Braun (Incarnate Word).  The redshirt senior registered a +9 touch differential (53-44) for the day.

Elsayed also faced his younger brother Mohamed Elsayed Saleh on Thursday.  Ahmed fell 5-3 to Mohamed, who fences for Long Island University (LIU) and is the leader in the epee competition after day one by winning 14 of 15 bouts. 

This is the third appearance in the NCAA Championships for the Warrior epeeist, also competing in 2019 (tied-for-third) and 2022 (tied-for-11th).

Marouf is in the sabre competition and appears in 20th place after Thursday with a 4-10 mark in his debut at the NCAA Championships.  Four of the sophomore's 10 defeats were by a narrow 5-4 margin, as he fell to Jack Price (Ohio State), Shawn Kim (U.C. San Diego), Simon Kushkov (Penn State), and Stephen Kim (Duke) by that score.  Marouf finished the day with a -19 touch differential (45-64). 

Wayne State is in 15th overall place out of 23 programs with fencers in the men's portion of the event, with 11 total bout victories.

Rounds 4 and 5 will be contested on Friday in Durham, with both Warriors having eight more bouts remaining in the final two rounds. 

After round robin play, Elsayed and Marouf will look to be among the top four finishers in their weapon, as those will be the ones to fence in semifinal 15-touch bouts, with winners fencing to determine first and second places.  Non-advancing fencers will be awarded a tie for third place.

Stay tuned to WSUAthletics.com for continuing coverage of the 2023 NCAA Men's and Women's Fencing Championships this weekend.


 
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Players Mentioned

Ahmed Elsayed

Ahmed Elsayed

Epee
6' 4"
Redshirt Senior
Eyad Marouf

Eyad Marouf

Sabre
5' 9"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Ahmed Elsayed

Ahmed Elsayed

6' 4"
Redshirt Senior
Epee
Eyad Marouf

Eyad Marouf

5' 9"
Sophomore
Sabre