Spartans Host Green-White Wrestle Offs Thursday
10/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State wrestling will begin the 2017-18 season with its annual Green-White Wrestle Offs on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 6 p.m. in the IM West Sports Arena. Admission is free, and there will be giveaways and prizes for fans.
"I think it should be an exciting time for some of them to kick off their college careers, and others to just kick off their season on a good note," head coach Roger Chandler said. "I think the tone has been set in our room at an early stage, back in early September and late August. I'm most excited to see these guys in a competitive atmosphere at the college level. I know we have something special going on here and seeing these guys translate what they've been doing in the practice room into a competition arena."
The Spartans return nine letterwinners, including redshirt junior Austin Eicher, sophomore Drew Hughes and redshirt senior Javier Gasca. All three competed in last year's NCAA Championships and were ranked in the top-20 in the nation in the latest FloWrestling NCAA rankings. Hughes was ranked at No. 9 at 174 pounds, Gasca was ranked No. 10 at 144 pounds and Eicher came in at No. 16 at 133 pounds. This marks the highest preseason rankings for the three.
MSU has 17 newcomers, 16 of which are freshmen and one transfer from Lake Erie.
"There's lots of bright spots. I can go up and down the line. There's guys that redshirted last year and I'm excited to see how they start off their first year of them actually being in the competition lineup. Jake Tucker, he was one of our star recruits last year and I look forward to watching him get his season started off well. I look forward to Christian Rebottaro in heavyweight and see how he does, looking at the gains that he's made over the year," Chandler said of the expectations this year.
Chandler and his staff are anxious to see the new Spartans in action.
"We have some true freshmen as well. We have RayVon Foley who's a national level guy and he's a true freshman. I expect him to come in here and compete and be ready to go," Chandler said. "We also have Brad Wilton and Cole Nye. These are true freshmen that are going to compete really, really hard and I'm excited to see them. They've caught our eye in the preseason and it's something exciting that we look forward to as coaches," Chandler said.
The Spartans placed 10th in the 2016-17 Big Ten Championships, their highest finish since also placing 10th in 2012. This year, Michigan State will host Big Ten Championships on March 3-4.
MSU's season officially begins on Saturday, Nov. 5 by hosting the annual Michigan State Open at Jenison Field House.
Players Mentioned
