Three Spartans Advance To Second Day Of Action At NCAA Championships

ST. LOUIS -- Three Michigan State wrestlers will be in action on the second day of competition at the 2021 NCAA Championships at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, after Thursday's first day of "Mat Madness."

In the first round Thursday, the redshirt-junior dynamic duo of Rayvon Foley and Cameron Caffey both won their first-round bouts at 125 and 197 pounds, respectively, before both being defeated in the second round. Redshirt-senior Jake Tucker lost his opening bout at 165, but bounced back with a win in the consolation round.

First Round
No. 8 seed Foley posted a 14-0 major decision over No. 25 seed Logan Treaster of Navy. Foley posted a takedown late in the first period for a 2-0 lead, before a frenzied second stanza, scoring an escape, then a takedown, then a penalty point for Treaster stalling, before a two-point nearfall and an 8-0 lead entering the third period. The Spartan registered six more points in the third, on a takedown, another two-point nearfall, another stalling penalty point and capping it off with the riding time point for the 14-0 win.

Caffey, the No. 10 seed, defeated No. 23 seed Bryan McLaughlin of Drexel, 14-6. The Spartan opened a 5-2 lead after the first frame, before stretching it to 10-3 after two, with a pair of takedowns after an early escape out of the starting position. Shortly after McLaughlin scored an escape of his own out of the third-period start, there was a delay with an injury timeout for McLaughlin at 1:41 of the third with Caffey leading 10-4. When action resumed, McLaughlin got a takedown, before Caffey closed out the bout with an escape, then another takedown and tacked on the riding time point for the 14-6 decision.

At 133, redshirt-freshman Jordan Hamdan, the No. 30 seed, was defeated by No. 3 seed Korbin Myers of Virginia Tech, 13-4, in the opening round.

Also making his first NCAA Championships appearance was redshirt-freshman Peyton Omania, the No. 28 seed at 149. Omania nearly pulled off a huge upset in the first round, pushing No. 4 5 seed Ridge Lovett of Nebraska to the brink. Behind a takedown just over 30 seconds into the match, Omania had a 4-3 lead after the first period, scoring another takedown just inside the halfway point of the period. Lovett secured an escape out of the second-period starting position to tie it at 4-4, and that remained the score for not just the rest of the second stanza, but also throughout the third, sending the bout to overtime. Lovett tallied a takedown 30 seconds into the extra period for the 6-4 sudden victory decision.

The third Spartan to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the first time was freshman Chase Saldate, seeded No. 15 at 157 pounds, and faced No. 18 Cade DeVos of South Dakota State, dropping a 3-1 decision. After a scoreless first frame, DeVos scored an escape early in the second for a 1-0 advantage. Saldate leveled it at 1-1 with an escape out of the restart to the period, and the score stayed 1-1 for next minute and a half, before DeVos notched a takedown with 21 seconds left and Saldate was unable to counter before the final whistle.

At 165, redshirt-senior Jake Tucker is a two-time NCAA qualifier but first time NCAA Championships participant after the 2020 Championships were cancelled. Tucker earned the No. 25 seed and was defeated by No. 8 seed Shane Griffith of Stanford in the first round, suffering a 5-2 defeat.

At 174, redshirt-senior Drew Hughes, who is MSU's first four-time NCAA qualifier since 2007, had the wrestle-in bout as the No. 32 seed, and knocked off Jacob Nolan of Binghamton, 7-0. After a scoreless first frame, Hughes posted a takedown and four-point near fall to open a 6-0 advantage, which he held through the rest of the second and the entire third, adding the riding time point for the 7-0 win.

Hughes advanced to the first round, where he was matched up against No. 1 seed, Michael Kemerer of Iowa, and the Big Ten Champion knocked off Hughes in a 22-7 tech. fall.

In the 184 pound first round, redshirt sophomore Layne Malczewski drew the No. 15 seed, but was knocked off by No. 18 seed Alan Clothier of Northern Colorado in an 8-3 decision. Malczewski leveled the score at the midway point of the first frame, but Clothier added an escape for a 3-2 lead after one. In the second, Malczewski scored an early escape to tie it at 3-3, but Clothier collected a takedown and two-point near fall for a 7-3 advantage through two, and that remained the score throughout the third. Clothier added the riding point for a 8-3 final.

Champ. Second Round
Foley took on No. 9 seed Devin Schroder of Purdue, who advanced with a 5-1 decision in the first round. Foley faced Schroder during the regular-season dual, collecting a 10-4 decision. Thursday's NCAA Championships second round bout was much more lower scoring, remaining 0-0 through the first period. Schroder collected a reversal in the early going of the second, before Foley got on the board with an escape a few seconds later, to pull within, 2-1, and that remained the score for the rest of the second and the entire third, for the 2-1 final.

Caffey faced off with No. 26 seed Jake Woodley of Oklahoma who was coming off a first-round upset of No. 7 seed Rocky Elam of Mizzouri. After a scoreless first period, Woodley scored an escape early in the second stanza. Caffey collected a takedown with just over 30 seconds left in the period for a 2-1 lead, but Woodley got an escape with just seven seconds to go to tie it up at 2-all heading into the third frame. Caffey scored an escape early in the third period and a 3-2 lead, but Woodley countered with a takedown with 39 seconds to go and Caffey was unable to get a counterattack in an score, ending with a 4-3 decision defeat.

Cons. Second Round
Hamdan matched up with No. 19 seed Chance Rich of Cal State Bakersfield, and Rich scored an early takedown, before registering a fall at 2:42.

At 149, Omania tangled with No. 21 Graham Rooks of Indiana in a rematch of their Big Ten Championships bout, won by Rooks in a 5-3 decision, knocking Omania out of the tournament. In Thursday's bout, Rooks got out to a 4-1 lead after one, sandwiching a pair of takedowns around an Omania escape. Rooks collected another takedown in the second, and added three more points in the third for a 9-1 major decision.

Saldate squared off with No. 32 seed Michael Petite of Buffalo, and the Spartan started off with a takedown less than a minute into the bout, but Petite countered with an escape and a takedown for a 3-2 lead after one. Petite added another escape and takedown in the second for a 6-2 score after the second stanza. The score stayed at 6-2 throughout the third, and Petite posted the riding time point for the 7-2 decision.

Tucker took on No. 24 seed Andrew Sparks of Minnesota in a rematch of a regular-season bout from the first day of the season back on Jan. 16, won by Sparks in an 8-7 decision. In Thursday night's match-up, Sparks scored first on a takedown, but Tucker countered with an escape for a 2-1 score after one. Period two was scoreless, but Tucker erupted in the third, scoring an escape out of the starting position to level the bout at 2-apiece, andless than a minute later, scored a takedown and rode it out to collect the riding time point and a 5-2 decision to advance to Friday morning's action.

Hughes met No. 16 Clay Lautt of North Carolina in the consolation round, and the Tar Heel posted an early takedown to start a takedown-escape pattern of three takedowns around two escapes, resulting in a 6-2 Lautt lead after the first frame. The second stanza was scoreless, before Lautt and Hughes engaged in another takedown-escape pattern of two in a row, and Lautt posted the 10-4 decision.

Malczewski squared off with No. 31 seed Ryan Reyes of Oregon State, and Reyes scored an early takedown, but Malczewski scored an escape and a penalty point to level the bout at 2-all after one. A Reyes reversal in the opening seconds of period two was countered by a Malczewski escape, and the score stayed 4-3 entering the third. Malczewski again scored another escape out of the starting position to tie it at 4-4, but Reyes got a point on a stalling penalty on Malczewski and a takedown, before the Spartan tried to rally with a late escape to get within, 6-5, but Reyes scored another takedown just before the final buzzer and added the riding time for the 9-5 decision.

Team Standings
After Day 1, Michigan State is tied for 23rd in the team standings with 7.5 points, matched by Stanford.

Friday's Action
Foley, Caffey and Tucker will be in action on Friday, March 19, with action getting going at 11 a.m. The second day bracket will feature Foley facing No. 10 seed Malik Heinselman of Ohio State, while Tucker will take on No. 10 seed Travis Wittlake of Oklahoma State, and Caffey will clash with No. 24 seed Benjamin Smith of Cleveland State.

Friday's action will be televised on the ESPN networks and streamed on ESPN3/WatchESPN.com.

Three Spartans Advance To Second Day Of Action At NCAA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Drew Hughes

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Chase Saldate

Jake Tucker