Caffey, Hamdan and Crace Lead Spartans at MSU Open

East Lansing, Mich. - Michigan State wrestling kicked off the 2019-20 season with six top-five finishes Saturday, Nov. 2 at the MSU Open inside Jenison Field House.

Freshman Jordan Hamdan, a four-time high school state champion, notched MSU's lone individual title in the freshman/sophomore division at 133 pounds. Fellow freshman Jordan Crace grabbed a second place finish at 141 pounds for the Spartans in the freshman/sophomore division.

"Both those guys (Hamdan and Crace) are very high-level kids and they are going to be big time contributors to our program in the future," Chandler said. "There's no doubt they raise the level of our room and you know what, these are the types of guys we want in our program, guys that are going to compete at the highest levels all the time."

MSU earned four top-five finishes in the open bracket with two others reaching the quarterfinals. Redshirt junior Jake Tucker took fourth, redshirt sophomore Cameron Caffey took third and redshirt freshman Layne Malczewski and redshirt junior Christian Rebottaro claimed fifth place finishes.

"I thought our guys competed well, I mean this is obviously one of the highest-level tournaments that our guys will see this year as far as quality of competition," said head coach Roger Chandler. "Anytime you come out of an event like this, there's going to be many things that still need worked on, and we have many of them. At the end of the day, you look at it and you ask yourself ' Did you compete to the best of your ability, and if you have you go back to work and make the necessary changes to be better next week."

Top Results - Open
Jake Tucker - 157 pounds
First Round def. Baan Rachel (Illinois) - MD 11-2
Second Round def. Mason Kauffman (Northern Illinois) - Dec. 10-4
Quarterfinals fell to Justin Thomas (Oklahoma) - Dec. 6-2
Consolation def. Nathan Atienza (Michigan State) - Dec. 9-7
Consolation Quarterfinals def. Jaden Mattox (Ohio State) - Dec. 9-8
Consolation Semifinals def. Zac Carson (Ohio)- MD 11-3
3rd-place match vs. Will Lewan (Michigan) - NC (Lewan)

-Tucker bounced back after falling in the quarterfinals to knock off three opponents in consolation action. Tucker compilied five wins on the day in six matches. Due to the NCAA mandated rule of six matches, Tucker was not able to wrestle for third place.

Layne Malczewski - 174 pounds
First Round def. David Riojas (Illinois) - MD 16-7
Second Round def. Jake Hendricks (Penn) - Dec. 7-3
Quarterfinals fell to Jacob Covaciu (Indiana) - Dec. 7-5
Consolation Second Round def. Gregg Harvey Jr. (Pitt) - Dec. 4-1
Consolation Quarterfinals def. Jake Hendricks (Penn) - Dec. 5-0
Consolation Semifinals fell to Anthony Mantanona (Oklahoma), Fall (2:21)
Tied for 5th-place with Rocky Jordan (Ohio State)

-Malczewski started the day with two wins, before falling in quarterfinal action. The redshirt freshman reeled off two wins in consolation play and tied for fifth place after both he and Jordan were unable to wrestle due to wrestling in six matches.

Cameron Caffey - 184 pounds
First Round def. Ruston Duke (Oklahoma) - Fall (1:36)
Second Round def. JT Correll (Michigan) - MD 18-9
Quarterfinals def. Taylor Cahill (Buffalo) - Fall (4:42)
Semifinals fell to Jelani Embree (Michigan) - Dec. 10-8 TB1
3rd-place match fell to Zac Braunagel (Illinois) -MD 15-7
5th-place match won by no contest over Max Lyon of Purdue

-Caffey, who won the 184 pound open division in last years MSU Open, collected three wins on the day, including two falls and a major decision. Caffey claimed a fifth place finish after winning by no contest over Lyon of Purdue.

Christian Rebottaro - 285 pounds
First Round def. Collin McCoy (Buffalo) - Dec. 5-2
Second Round def. Jairus Perry (Purdue) - MD 14-4
Quarterfinals def. Josiah Jones (Oklahoma) - Dec. 3-1 SV
Semifinals fell to Matt Stencel (Central Michigan) - Fall (2:21)
Consolation Semifinals fell to Gary Traub (Ohio State) - Dec. 3-2
5th-place match won by no contest over Max Ihry (Northern Illinois)

-Rebottaro reached the semifinals of the 285 pound division before falling in the semifinals to CMU's Stencel.

Garrett Pepple - 133 pounds
First Round -Bye
Second Round def. Deven Perez (Central Michigan) - Dec. 3-2
Quarterfinals fell to Mario Guillen (Ohio) - Dec. 3-1
Consolation first round def. We Rachal - MD 11-0
Consolation Quarterfinals fell to Derek Spann (Buffalo) - Dec. 3-2

Jacob Spiess - 133 pounds
First Round def. Brock Bergelin (Central Michigan) - Dec. 3-2
Second Round def. Carmen Ferrante (Penn) - Dec. 8-5
Quarterfinals fell to Travis Piotrowski (UA Illinois) - Dec. 4-1
Consolation First Round def. Austin Assad - MFF
Consolation Quarterfinals fell to Quinn Kinner (Ohio State) - Dec. 2-0

Freshman/Sophomore
Jordan Hamdan - 133 pounds
First Round - Bye
Second Round def. Daniel Rehfeldt (Unattached) - Fall (0:29)
Quarterfinals def. Nick Oldham (UA Ohio State) - MD 9-1
Semifinals def. Travis Ford-Melton (UA Purdue) - Dec. 3-1
Finals def. Lucas Byrd (UA Illinois), Dec. 7-5

-Collected MSU's lone title on the day at 133 pounds. The freshman recorded a fall, major decision and two decisions on his way to the title.

Jordan Crace - 141 pounds
First Round def. Mitchel Christensen (Central Michigan) - Dec. 10-4
Second Round def. Andy Ruhstorfer (Mott Community) - Fall (3:39)
Quarterfinals def. Trey Piotrowski (UA Illinois) - MD - 18-5
Semifinals def. Asa Garcia (UA Indiana) - Dec. 3-2
Finals fell to Cole Matthews (Pitt), Dec. 8-5

-Fell in the finals to Cole Matthews of Pittsburgh. Scored a fall, a major decision and two decisions on his way to a second place finish.

The Spartans return to action on Saturday, Nov. 16 in Kent, Ohio. MSU will take on Oklahoma and Kent State in a tri-meet at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.

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Players Mentioned

Nathan Atienza

Cameron Caffey

Jordan Crace

Jordan Hamdan

Layne Malczewski

Garrett Pepple

Christian Rebottaro

Jacob Spiess

Jake Tucker