Wrestling Prepares for Top Competition at Southern Scuffle

2021 Southern Scuffle, presented by Compound Sportswear
Date: Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022 – Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022
Time: 10 a.m. (Saturday), 11 a.m. (Sunday)
Location: McKenzie Arena (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Watch: FloWrestling
Tournament Site: TheSouthernScuffle.com
Notes: Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State wrestling team open up the New Year at the 2022 Southern Scuffle, battling some of the top competition in the country on Jan. 1-2. MSU will get tournament action going at 10 a.m. Saturday in McKenzie Arena, while Sunday's schedule begins at 11 a.m. in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Coming off a 5-0 start in their dual-meet slate, the Spartans are part of a stacked field at the 18th edition of the Southern Scuffle, as eight of the NWCA Top-25 teams will be sending full squads to the Scenic City, including a late addition in No. 1 Iowa. The Spartans are among three teams that are receiving votes in the NWCA polls (Appalachian State and Stanford) that have full representation, while No. 2 Penn State is sending partial representation.

Hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the Southern Scuffle will be live-streamed in its entirety via FloWrestling. Up-to-date information can be found on Twitter and Instagram by following @LetsScuffle.

LAST TIME OUT

The Spartans moved to 5-0 in dual action when they earned a pair of wins Dec. 18 in Olivet, Mich., earning a 37-9 victory over Division III power Baldwin Wallace before shutting out host Olivet, 41-0.
Layne Malczewski highlighted the night by recording a fall in both of his matches, while Rayvon Foley and Cameron Caffey both picked up bonus points in each of their two matches, as Foley and Caffey both had major decision wins against Baldwin Wallace and notched technical falls in their Olivet bouts.

RANKING MICHIGAN STATE

Michigan State enters the weekend receiving votes in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll … MSU have been right outside the Top-25 all season, receiving votes every week
Along with the NWCA rankings, MSU is just outside the Top-25 in several other team rankings, coming in at No. 26 in the WrestleStat Dual Rankings and landing at No. 38 on FloWrestling's team rankings.
Individually, five different Spartans are ranked in at least one of the four rankings from Flowrestling (Top 25 individuals in each weight class), Intermat (Top 33 individuals), OnTheMat (Top 20 individuals), and Wrestle Stat (Top 50 individuals).
133-pounder Rayvon Foley is the highest-ranked Spartan, coming in at No. 11 for Intermat and WrestleStat, while sitting top-14 in all four rankings … Foley is one of two Spartans to be ranked in all four polls, joined by 197-pounder Cameron Caffey (highest: No. 18 by WrestleStat).

ABOUT THE SOUTHERN SCUFFLE FIELD

This year's field is stacked with four teams listed in the top-10 in the latest NWCA Coaches Poll. Those teams included are No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 NC State, No. 8 Cornell and No. 10 Virginia Tech.
Additionally, three other top-25 teams will be coming to the Scenic City - No. 11 Missouri, No. 14 Minnesota and No. 20 North Carolina. No. 1 Iowa is sending 14 non-starters as well, while No. 2 Penn State is sending partial representation to the Scuffle.
Air Force, (RV) Appalachian State, Bellarmine, Buffalo, Cal State Bakersfield, Davidson, Drexel, Duke, Gardner Webb, George Mason, Little Rock, Maryland, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Rider University, South Dakota State, (RV) Stanford, The Citadel, VMI and West Virginia are also competing alongside (RV) Michigan State and the host Chattanooga Mocs.

INDIVIDUALS AT THE SCUFFLE

A total of 69 ranked wrestlers, according to updated FloWrestling rankings, will be in attendance at the Scuffle, including a pair of top-5 grapplers.
No. 3 165-pounder Keegan O'Toole is expected to compete for Missouri, while the No. 5 wrestler at 157 pounds, Minnesota's Brayton Lee, will also be in Chattanooga.
The 165 class will be the fiercest division, as O'Toole and No. 7 Luke Weber of North Dakota State highlight a registration list that includes 12 wrestlers who appear on the current FloWrestling rankings.

SCUFFLE PRE-SEEDS

MSU's Rayvon Foley earned the No. 1 seed for the 133 weight class in Friday's pre-seedings.
Other seeded Spartans are Chase Saldate (No. 5 at 157), Layne Malczewski (No. 5 at 184) and Cameron Caffey (No. 4 at 197).

UP NEXT
Michigan State starts its Big Ten schedule on Jan. 8, 2022 at home against No. 7 Ohio State. Start time is set for 5 p.m. from Jenison Field House on B1G+.

MICHIGAN STATE PROBABLES
125: Julian Saldana (GRAD | 5-7) --AND-- Tristan Lujan (SO | 4-2)
133: No. 13 Rayvon Foley (R-SR | 11-1)
141: Matt Santos (GRAD | 7-6) --AND-- Jordan Hamdan (R-SO | 5-5)
149: Peyton Omania (R-SO | 5-2) --AND-- Eddie Homrock (SO | 5-2) --AND-- Jaden Enriquez (R-SR | 3-2)
157: No. 24 Chase Saldate (SO | 13-1)
165: HM Caleb Fish (SO | 12-3)
174: Nathan Jimenez (R-JR | 6-5) --AND-- Marty Larkin (SO | 6-5)
184: No. 21 Layne Malczewski (R-JR | 11-3)
197: HM Cameron Caffey (R-SR | 11-3)
285: Brad Wilton (R-SR | 7-6)

Wrestling Prepares for Top Competition at Southern Scuffle

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Jaden Enriquez

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Eddie Homrock

Nathan Jimenez

Marty Larkin

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Julian Saldana

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Brad Wilton

Wrestling Prepares for Top Competition at Southern Scuffle

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Jaden Enriquez

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Eddie Homrock

Nathan Jimenez

Marty Larkin

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Julian Saldana

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Brad Wilton

Related Videos