Wrestling Hosts No. 7 Ohio State in Big Ten Opener

Michigan State vs. No. 7 Ohio State
Date: Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022
Time: 5 p.m. ET
Location: Jenison Field House (East Lansing, Mich.)
Watch: Big Ten Plus
Notes: Michigan State | Ohio State
Program: PDF

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State wrestling team returns to campus for its long-awaited home dual opener on Saturday, Jan. 8. The Spartans will begin their Big Ten slate this weekend by hosting No. 7 Ohio State at 5 p.m. inside Jenison Field House.

Saturday's action will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus with former Spartan Eric Olanowski on the call, with live updates posted on Twitter via @wrestlingmsu. Doors will open for entry to Jenison at 4 p.m.

Announced on January 1, Michigan State Athletics will require spectators at indoor athletic events to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event. For more information on the policy, click HERE.

Masks are required indoors for all individuals. Michigan State University requires all campus visitors, faculty, staff and students to wear a mask while indoors.

ABOUT THE SPARTANS

The Spartans are coming off an impressive weekend at the 2022 Southern Scuffle, taking third place in the prestigious tournament. Led by 133 champion and redshirt senior Rayvon Foley, the Spartans had four wrestlers place at the event, as Chase Saldate was the 157 runner-up while redshirt senior Cameron Caffey took home third place at 197 and redshirt junior Layne Malczewski ended up placing fifth in the 184 bracket.
MSU sits at 5-0 in duals this season, using a 19-17 comeback victory at Lock Haven to propel them to dominant wins at Bucknell (23-10) and Gardner-Webb (29-12). The team then handled business against Division III power Baldwin Wallace, 37-9, and posted a 41-0 shutout of Olivet before the Christmas break.
Saldate and Foley have been the most productive wrestlers for the Green and White, racking up 18 wins and 17 wins, respectively. Both Saldate and Malczewski have 11 bonus-point victories, as Saldate has tallied six falls and five major decisions, while Malczewski follows with four pins, two technical falls and five major decisions as well.
Open tournaments have also proven successful for the Spartans, as Saldate and fellow sophomore Caleb Fish (165) won individual titles at the MSU Open, while Foley and redshirt sophomore Peyton Omania (149) took home crowns at the Navy Classic to help Michigan State place first in the team standings.

ABOUT OHIO STATE

The Buckeyes enter Big Ten action with a 4-0 dual record, including wins over then-No. 14 North Carolina (23-12), No. 10 Virginia Tech (17-13) and No. 22 Pittsburgh (30-7), but had their most recent match at American cancelled due to weather.
Coming in at No. 7 in the latest NWCA poll, OSU also posted a second-place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational last month, as No. 6 Kaleb Romero's 184-pound crown highlighted a weekend that saw four Ohio State wrestlers earn medals. No. 2 Sammy Sasso (149) and No. 7 Ethan Smith (174) finished second in their respective weight classes.
Ohio State finished ninth at last year's NCAA Championships, with Sasso, Smith and heavyweight Tate Orndorff each earning All-American honors.

RANKING MICHIGAN STATE

Still receiving votes in this week's NWCA coaches poll, the Spartans also cracked the Top-25 in the WrestleStat dual rankings at No. 22. For Tournament rankings, MSU came in No. 28 on WrestleStat, No. 37 on FloWrestling and No. 28 in the WIN Magazine Power Index.
Foley is the highest-ranked individual Spartan, coming in at No. 9 on the WrestleStat and WIN Magazine 133 rankings, while sitting No. 11 on FloWrestling, Intermat and The Open Mat.
At No. 11 on WrestleStat, Saldate also sits at No. 18 on The Open Mat rankings for 157 pounds, at No. 20 for Intermat and No. 24 in the FloWrestling ranking.
The 165-pound Fish enters the week at No. 30 on WrestleStat and holding an honorable mention status by FloWrestling.
Malczewski is at No. 24 in WrestleStat's 184 rankings and No. 29 according to Intermat, picking up honorable mention by FloWrestling.
Caffey's highest ranking is No. 17 on WrestleStat, while sitting at No. 18 in the Open Mat rankings, at No. 19 according to Intermat and WIN, and coming in at No. 23 for FloWrestling.

SERIES HISTORY

In the all-time series, the Spartans hold a 42-38-2 over the Buckeyes, but OSU has taken the past 11 meetings.
The last MSU dual win over Ohio State came on Jan. 23, 2005, a 27-13 Spartan victory.
A season ago, the Buckeyes came away with a 24-9 win in Columbus on Jan. 29, 2021 despite bout victories by Saldate, Malczewski and Caffey.

UP NEXT
Michigan State hits the road next weekend for a pair of conference duals. The Spartans travel to No. 15 Purdue on Saturday, Jan. 15 for a 7 p.m. showdown with the Boilmakers, before facing the Indiana Hoosiers on the Big Ten Network on Monday, Jan. 17 at 3:30 p.m.

MICHIGAN STATE PROBABLE LINEUP
125: Tristan Lujan (SO | 7-4, 1-0)
133: No. 11 Rayvon Foley (R-SR | 17-1, 5-0)
141: Jordan Hamdan (R-SO | 7-7, 1-1) --OR-- Matt Santos (GRAD | 7-6, 1-2)
149: Jaden Enriquez (R-SR | 4-4, 1-0) --OR-- Eddie Homrock (SO | 8-4, 2-0)
157: No. 24 Chase Saldate (SO | 18-2, 4-0) --OR-- Skyler Crespo (SO | 7-6, 0-0)
165: HM Caleb Fish (SO | 15-5, 3-2) --OR-- Miles Hoey (R-SO | 5-6, 0-0)
174: Nathan Jimenez (R-JR | 7-7, 2-3) --OR-- Marty Larkin (6-5, 0-0)
184: HM Layne Malczewski (R-JR | 16-5, 5-0) --OR-- Wyatt Cool (R-JR | 0-0, 0-0)
197: No. 13 Cameron Caffey (R-SR | 16-4, 5-0)
285: Brad Wilton (R-SR | 7-8, 4-1)

OHIO STATE PROBABLE LINEUP
125: No. 11 Malik Heinselman (SR | 10-1, 4-0)
133: Will Betancourt (FR | 4-0, 0-0)
141: Klay Reeves (R-SO | 6-2, 0-0)
149: No. 2 Sammy Sasso (R-JR | 11-1, 4-0)
157: Jashon Hubbard (R-JR | 4-1, 1-1)
165: No. 5 Carson Kharchla (R-SO | 13-1, 4-0)
174: No. 7 Ethan Smith (R-SR | 9-2, 3-1)
184: No. 6 Kaleb Romero (R-SR | 5-0, 1-0)
197: No. 19 Gavin Hoffman (R-JR | 6-3, 2-1)
285: Tate Orndorff (R-SR | 11-2, 4-0)

*Individual Rankings based on FloWrestling*

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Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Wyatt Cool

Skyler Crespo

Jaden Enriquez

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Miles Hoey

Eddie Homrock

Nathan Jimenez

Marty Larkin

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Brad Wilton