(Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 2) -- McKendree University fencing opened their 2017-18 season over the weekend at the Ohio State University Fencing Open and Duals in Columbus, OH.

On Saturday, the Bearcats had two fencers competing in the men's individual epee, one in the men's individual foil, and one in the women's individual epee.

Senior Andrew Tolbert (Dolton, IL/Marian Catholic) placed 23^rd out of 45 fencers in the individual epee. He defeated Colin Lang of Xavier University 15-7 in the opening round, before falling in round of 32 to Nicolas Pouliquen from Ohio State. Junior Caleb Hamilton (Sherwood, AR) also competed in the individual epee, finishing in 27^th position. He defeated Tyson Trauger from the University of Illinois in a hard fought bout, 15-13. Hamilton would go on to fall by a score of 15-7 in the second round.

Omar Abdelgawad was top performer for the Bearcats, placing 6^th overall in the men's individual foil competition. He opened with two wins against opponents from Xavier and the University of Michigan, advancing all the way to the quarterfinal round. Zahrah Dinkins competed in the women's individual epee, advancing to the quarterfinals.

In the team competition on Sunday, the men finished with a record of 2-1. They defeated Xavier University 16-9 in bouts and Oberlin College 17- 14 in bouts. In a closely contested match-up with Purdue University, the Bearcats came up just short, falling 14-13. They won the epee portion 5-4, but the Boilermakers took the sabre and foil by that same score. The McKendree women's team only sent one athlete, who competed in the epee portion, making it difficult for them to be competitive in the team event, as the total team score is all three disciplines (epee, sabre, and foil) combined. They lost all three of their matches to the same three schools that the men competed against.