Spartans Begin NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit on Thursday

2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships
Date: Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19
Times: Session 1 - Thursday, Noon ET
               Session 2 - Thursday, 7 p.m. ET
               Session 3 - Friday, 11 a.m. ET
               Session 4 - Friday, 8 p.m. ET
               Session 5 - Saturday, 11 a.m. ET
               Session 6 - Saturday, 7 p.m. ET
Location: Little Caesars Arena (Detroit, Mich.)
Television: ESPN & ESPNU
Streaming Coverage: WatchESPN
Live Results: TrackWrestling.com
Notes: Michigan State

DETROIT, Mich. – Five members of the Michigan State wrestling team are set to compete in this week's 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships at Little Caesars Arena.

Hosted by the University of Michigan and the Detroit Sports Commission, the national championships will last from March 17 to March 19 over six sessions. Starting on Thursday at noon, redshirt seniors Rayvon Foley and Cameron Caffey, redshirt junior Layne Malczewski and sophomores Chase Saldate and Caleb Fish will wrestle the nation's best at their weight classes.

The Spartans are seeking their first NCAA individual champion since Franklin Gomez at 133 pounds in 2009, and the team's first title since 1967. The program's last All-American was Foley, who placed seventh at 125 pounds in the 2019 national championships.

MICHIGAN STATE PLACES 12TH AT B1G CHAMPIONSHIPS

The No. 15-ranked Spartans entered the 2022 Big Ten Championships on March 5-6 with five wrestlers being top-6 seeds, led by Caffey at No. 3 in the 197-pound class and Foley holding the No. 4 seed at 133 pounds in Lincoln, Nebraska.
MSU had four wrestlers advance to Saturday's quarterfinals in Caffey, Foley, Saldate (157) and Fish (165), as Caffey then moved on to the semifinal round with a win over Purdue's Thomas Penola, while the other three lost to their Michigan counterparts and were sent to the second consolation round, where Foley, Saldate and Fish all won to stay alive.
Caffey then lost the semifinal by 5-2 decision to Penn State's Max Dean in a rematch of Dean's only loss earlier season, as Caffey fell to the consolation semifinals.
In consolation action, 184-pound Layne Malczewski battled his way back from a first-round loss to take 10th place, medically forfeiting the ninth-place bout due to illness, while Tristan Lujan went 3-3 on the weekend to take 11th in the 125-pound bracket. Fish and Saldate both won by major decision in the second consolation round but were defeated by decision in the third wrestle-back round to send them to the seventh-place matches, while Foley got a pair of close decisions to reach the 133-pound consolation semifinals.
Sunday's results did not go in favor of MSU, as Caffey and Foley both lost in the consolation semifinals to fall to the fifth-place matches, and Fish and Saldate each dropped their seventh-place matches to end their runs. Foley ended up medically forfeiting his fifth-place bout to Northwestern's Chris Cannon, while Penola got revenge on Caffey in their fifth-place showdown with a 3-2 decision.

CAFFEY, FOLEY AND MALCZEWSKI EARN NCAA AUTO BIDS

With their advancement to the consolation semifinals secured by the end of Saturday, Caffey and Foley both entered the second day of the B1G Championships having a spot in Detroit locked up. Caffey clinched one of the 11 NCAA allocations for the Big Ten at 197 pounds, while Foley earned himself one of the 10 allocated bids out of the 133-pounders.
For Malczewski, he clinched his trip to Detroit when he earned a bye to the ninth-place semifinals, taking one of the 12 spots allocated for the Big Ten 184-pounders.

FISH AND SALDATE RECEIVE AT-LARGE BIDS TO DETROIT

With seven spots allocated at the 157-pound and 165-pound weight classes to the Big Ten, eight-place finishers Saldate and Fish waited until Tuesday, March 8 to find out whether they would earn at-large bids to the NCAA Championships, when both were announced as among the top-33 wrestlers for their weight classes.

SPARTANS RECEIVE NCAA SEEDS

The highest-seeded Spartan is the former NCAA All-American Foley at 133 pounds, who earned the No. 8 seed in the weight class. A four-time national qualifier, Foley went 28-4 this season and placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships.
Caffey will look to improve upon his sixth-place finish at the B1G Championship in the 197-pound class after notching the No. 9 seed, as the four-time NCAA qualifier holds a 27-7 record on the campaign.
At 157 pounds, Saldate is slated as the 21-seed in his second trip to the NCAA Championships, with the Spartan sitting at 26-8 this season after finished in eighth place at the B1G tournament.
After medically forfeiting his last bout at the Big Ten Championships to place 10th, Malczewski draws the No. 22 seed in the 184-pound bracket, as the three-time NCAA qualifier is the owner of a 23-10 record this year.
Fish will be the No. 31 seed in his first-ever NCAA Championships appearance, as an eighth-place finish at the B1G Championships and a 22-12 mark overall earned the Spartans an at-large bid to Detroit.

RECAP OF MSU AT 2021 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

After an eighth-place finish at the 2021 B1G Championships, the Spartans sent eight automatic qualifiers and one at-large qualifier to the 2021 NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Missouri. Foley, Jordan Hamdan, Saldate, Jake Tucker, Drew Hughes, Malczewski and Caffey all earned spots in St. Louis with their placings at the B1G Championships, while Peyton Omania received an at-large bid.
Hamdan, Omania, Saldate, Hughes and Malczewski all went 0-2 in the tournament, while Tucker won his first consolation bout after losing in the opening round. For Caffey and Foley, they won their first round matches before losing by decision in the second round.
Tucker lost his second consolation bout, while Foley advanced to the third consolation round and Caffey used a pair of pins to advance to the fifth consolation round (blood round) before both lost to end their NCAA runs.

RANKING THE SPARTANS

The team holds the No. 25 on FloWrestling's tournament rankings, also finding itself at No. 30 on WIN Magazine's Tournament Power Index, and landing No. 32 in the tournament rankings for WrestleStat.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE

Caffey's 14-0 dual record put him in the team lead, while his 27 overall wins are second on the Spartans behind Foley's 28 victories.
Caffey, Malczewski and Saldate all have a team-best eight major decisions, while Saldate also paces MSU with seven falls this season.
Ryan Vasbinder and Foley have a Spartan-best five technical falls this year, with Vasbinder competing unattached during a redshirt season.
Caffey led the team in dual points at 50, while Foley and Malczewski were second with 48 points each.
Eight different Spartans had a .500-or-better record in dual meets.
Along with Caffey and Foley, three other MSU wrestlers reached 20 wins this season: Malczewski, Saldate and Fish.

MILESTONE WATCH

Foley reached 100 career wins representing MSU with his first-round technical fall over King Sandoval, becoming the 19th wrestler in Spartan history to reach the 100-win plateau. He now sits at 102 attached wins after picking up two additional wins at the B1G Championships.
Foley needs two more bonus-point victories to reach 50 in his career, totaling 27 major decisions, 2 tech. falls and one fall in his five years
Caffey is right behind Foley, needing three more attached wins to reach the 100-win milestone, as the redshirt senior is at 97 wins for MSU while also having 22 unattached wins from his redshirt season in 2017-18.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS IN MICHIGAN

Hosted by the University of Michigan and the Detroit Sports Commission, this is the first NCAA Wrestling Championships held in the Detroit area since 2007, when it was hosted at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
It will be the fourth time the NCAA Wrestling Championships are held in the state of Michigan, as the 1934 national championships were held in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan's Yost Field House, while the Spartans hosted the 1942 national championships at Jenison Field House in East Lansing.
The 2007 NCAAs marked the beginning of the Big Ten's current 14-year run having a member school win the team national title.
MSU finished in second place at the 1942 national championships with 26 team points, with then-Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) taking the NCAA title at 31 team points. Merle Jennings took home the 121-pound national title for the Spartans, while Burl Jennings was the individual champion at 128 pounds and Bill Maxwell won the 136-pound NCAA title.
At the 2007 NCAA Championships in Auburn Hills, the Spartans had the Simmons brothers of Nick and Andy qualify for the national championship. Andy Simmons went 0-2 in the 141 bracket, while Nick Simmons placed third at 133 pounds to earn All-American honors for the fourth time in his MSU career.

WATCH COVERAGE ON ESPN NETWORKS

The 2022 NCAA Championships will air on the ESPN family of networks and be streamed via ESPN3 on WatchESPN.
Each morning session will air on ESPNU, while the night sessions on all three days are slated to be shown on ESPN.
Every mat will have an individual feed on ESPN3 throughout the tournament.
For full information on ESPN's coverage, go HERE.

COVERAGE SCHEDULE

Day	Date	Session Coverage	Platform	Time (ET)
Thursday	March 17	Session 1 - First Round	ESPNU	Noon
Thursday	March 17	Session 2 - Second Round/First Consolation Round	ESPN	7 p.m
Friday	March 18	Session 3 - Quarterfinals/2nd & 3rd Consolation Rounds	ESPNU	11 a.m.
Friday	March 18	Session 4 - Semifinals/4th & 5th Consolation Rounds	ESPN	8 p.m.
Saturday	March 19	Session 5 - Consolation Semifinals/3rd-5th-7th Place	ESPNU	11 a.m.
Saturday	March 19	Session 6 - Finals	ESPN	7 p.m.

Spartans Begin NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit on Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Drew Hughes

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Chase Saldate

Jake Tucker

Ryan Vasbinder

Spartans Begin NCAA Wrestling Championships in Detroit on Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Drew Hughes

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Chase Saldate

Jake Tucker

Ryan Vasbinder

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