Former University Fencing Club coach Ron Frazzini was on hand Saturday at Cooke Hall to give out awards for the First Annual Frazzini Open club fencing tournament, named in his honor.
Frazzini and the other spectators saw another dominant showing by the Minnesota club fencing team, which took the two top spots in the competition.
Current fencing coach Chris Swope was pleased to see the tournament named after Frazzini.
“Ron coached for eight years, and he showed the UMFC how to dominate,” Swope said. “Hopefully, the tournament will get stronger over time.”
Minnesota fencers Tad Salyards and Matt Cutler finished first in the mixed foil and mixed epee events respectively. Michelle Mansfield garnered a second-place finish in mixed epee and Mark Seemann took third in the 25-person mixed foil competition.
“This tournament shows great improvement,” Swope said. “Cutler and Salyards fenced really well and improved their ratings.”
Minnesota used the Frazzini Open to follow up on its strong showing on May 11 and 12 at the Collegiate Championships. The team took first place out of five teams with 290 team points, which was 100 points more than runner-up St. Cloud State.
Salyards was first in the mixed sabre, Dana Mages won the women’s foil and Mansfield took the top spot in the women’s epee event.
Minnesota will close its season at the club fencing National Championships, which will be held June 8-16 in Cincinnati.
Women’s rugby club
The University women’s club rugby team concluded its season Saturday afternoon at Fort Snelling by forfeiting to St. Ben’s, a 1996 National Finalist team in the sport. The forfeit left Minnesota with a final season record of 5-4-1.
Minnesota was unable to compete because of a shortage of players at the game. Despite the setback, the team decided to scrimmage St. Ben’s anyway to end the year on a positive note.
“We have played well this year and improved a lot over the season,” said club president Lori Most.
Even though the season ended on a sour note, most of the team is returning for the fall season next year. Minnesota will start up its fall schedule Sept. 29 with games against Winona State and Macalester in Winona, Minn.
Men’s Golf
Two men’s golfers named district All-America
Gophers senior Aaron Barber and freshman Matt Doyle were named to the 12-man District IV All-America Team on Tuesday.
Barber was also named to the squad last season. Doyle, who was named Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten, was the only rookie on the list.
Ohio State had three golfers on the team, which was the most in the conference. Northwestern had two and Wisconsin and Indiana each had one.
The 12 golfers are eligible for First Team All-America status, which will be announced after the NCAA Championships on June 1.