Wayne State University Athletics

Zack Belsky/WSU Athletics

Mahmoud Elsayed placed third in the men's epee at the NCAA Regionals.

Men's Fencing 3/8/2025 7:30:00 PM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Several Men's Fencers Have Strong Showing At NCAA Regionals

GRANVILLE, Ohio -- The Wayne State University men's fencing squad sent 10 student-athletes to the 2025 NCAA Midwest Regionals on Saturday hosted by Denison University. WSU was competing against Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, Lawrence, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. The NCAA Regionals factor in 60 percent of each fencers score for the season, while the other 40 percent comes from bouts during the season.

Men's Epee
The Warriors had five epeeists qualify in Shuayb Dinkins (Kissimmee, Fla. / Celebration), Mahmoud Elsayed (Tanta, Gharbia, Egypt), Sam Garrett (San Francisco, Calif. / San Francisco School of the Arts), Bryce Heim (Oconomowoc, Wis.) and Lance Miller (Freeport, Mich. / Lowell). Elsayed was seeded third, while Dinkins (11th), Garrett (14th), Heim (17th) and Miller (21st) round out the squad.

Both Dinkins and Elsayed went 3-2 and were +3 (20-17) in touches in the initial round of pool play. Garrett also went 3-2 and was even (18-18) in touches. Heim compiled a 1-4 mark and was -6 (15-21) in touches, while Miller went 0-5 and was -16 (9-25) in touches. Heim and Miller did not advance past the opening pools and finished 19th and 24th, respectively.

In the second round of pools, Elsayed compiled a 4-1 mark and was +9 (24-15) in touches with his only blemish being a 5-4 loss to Ohio State's Gabriel Feinberg. Garrett had a 3-2 record and was +1 (22-21) in touches, with one of his losses being 5-4 to Ohio State's Viktor Kulcsar. Dinkins also went 3-2 and was +7 (21-14), and had a 5-4 setback to Notre Dame's Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle, the eventual runner-up.

Of the 12 epeeists advancing to the final round-robin pool there were four from Ohio State, three from Notre Dame and Wayne State, and one each from Lawrence and Cleveland State.

Elsayed had an 8-3 mark and was +4 (46-42) in touches to finish third out of 24 fencers in the epee. Dinkins won four of his 11 bouts and was -6 (41-47) in touches to place ninth. Meanwhile, Garrett earned three victories and was -12 (32-44) to finish 12th.

Men's Foil
Wayne State was represented by Ethan Leung (Hong Kong), Jakub Oronowicz (Clarkston, Mich.), Mitchell Gatrell (Livonia, Mich. / Churchill) and Sam Gneuhs (Mason, Ohio / William Mason). They were ranked 15th, 18th, 19th and 20th, respectively.

In the pool play, Leung had a 3-2 record and was even (18-18) in touches. Oronowicz went 2-3 and was +3 (21-18) in touches, while Gatrell had a 1-4 mark and was -8 (13-21) in touches. Gneuhs also compiled a 2-3 record but was -7 (15-22) in touches. Gatrell was the only Warrior not to advance to the second round, which consisted of all 12 qualifiers battling each other in a five-touch round-robin bracket.

Leung led WSU in the final pools with a 4-7 mark and -11 (33-44) in touches, while Oronowicz had a 3-8 record and was -21 (28-49) in touches. Gneuhs went 1-10 and was -36 (18-54) in touches. Leung finished ninth, and was followed by Oronwicz (10th), Gneuhs (12th), and Gatrell (13th).

Men's Sabre
WSU's lone participant in the sabre was redshirt freshman Zeyad Nofal (Cairo, Egypt), who entered the competition seeded third. There were 14 participants with the event consisting of 13 round-robin five-touch bouts. Nofal battled through an injury to post a 2-11 record, which included a pair of 5-4 setbacks. He was -30 (29-59) in touches.

UP NEXT
The NCAA will announce its selections for the 2025 NCAA Championships on Tuesday (March 11th) evening. The national championships will consist of the top 24 fencers per gender per weapon competing in a round-robin five-touch bouts against the other 23 qualifiers over two days (March 20-21) to determine team standings. The top four individuals will advance to the semifinals on day two to fence 15-touch bouts to determine the gold medalist for each weapon.

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Players Mentioned

Shuayb Dinkins: Epee; 5' 10"; Junior

Sam Garrett: Epee; 6' 3"; Junior

Mitchell Gatrell: Foil; 6' 3"; Junior

Sam Gneuhs: Foil; 5' 10"; Sophomore

Bryce Heim: Epee; 6' 3"; Junior

Ethan Leung: Foil; 5' 9"; Sophomore

Zeyad Nofal: Sabre; 6' 4"; Redshirt Freshman

Jakub Oronowicz: Foil; 5' 10"; Freshman

Mahmoud Elsayed: Epee; 6' 2"; Freshman

Lance Miller: Epee; 6' 3"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Shuayb Dinkins
: 5' 10"; Junior
: Epee

Sam Garrett
: 6' 3"; Junior
: Epee

Mitchell Gatrell
: 6' 3"; Junior
: Foil

Sam Gneuhs
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: Foil

Bryce Heim
: 6' 3"; Junior
: Epee

Ethan Leung
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: Foil

Zeyad Nofal
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Freshman
: Sabre

Jakub Oronowicz
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: Foil

Mahmoud Elsayed
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: Epee

Lance Miller
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: Epee