Saldate and Fish Earn At-Large Selections to NCAA Wrestling Championships
3/8/2022 4:00:00 PM | Wrestling
The Two Spartans Will Join Caffey, Foley and Malczewski in Detroit Next Week
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Two more Spartans will be heading to the 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championships March 17-19 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, as the NCAA announced Michigan State sophomores Chase Saldate and Caleb Fish as at-large selections Tuesday afternoon.
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Saldate and Fish bring MSU's total number of national qualifiers to five, as redshirt seniors Rayvon Foley and Cameron Caffey and redshirt junior Layne Malczewski all earned automatic qualification with their finishes over weekend at the Big Ten Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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MSU head coach Roger Chandler has now led 26 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships since taking over as head coach in 2016-17.
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Saldate is coming off an eighth-place finish in the 157-pound weight class at the B1G Championships, going 26-8 this season with a team-best seven falls and capturing an individual title at the Michigan State Open. The 165-pound Fish also finished eighth at the conference tournament to hold a 22-12 record on the campaign in addition to his own MSU Open crown.
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At 133 pounds, Foley went 3-2 at the Big Ten Championships, battling back from a quarterfinal loss to finish sixth. Caffey also placed sixth after reaching the 197-pound semifinals, while Malczewski wrestled his way to a 10th-place finish after suffering a first-round loss.
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Foley and Caffey are both four-time NCAA qualifiers and former All-Americans, while this will be Malczewski's third time qualifying for the national championships. This is the second NCAA qualification for Saldate after making it last year as a freshman, and Fish will be appearing in his first NCAA Championships.
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The 44 at-large selections released Tuesday join the 286 student-athletes that qualified through their conference tournament finishes over this past weekend. The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins (defined as wins against wrestlers already in the field), coaches ranking, results against common opponents, conference tournament placement and winning percentage. The committee was also able to use subjective criteria such as, but not limited to, historical performance.
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Seeding and brackets for this year's event will be revealed on Wednesday, March 9, during the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Selection Show on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. ET.
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A total of 33 wrestlers will make up each weight class at the national tournament, and all 33 will be ranked with seeds, which will be revealed Wednesday night during the selection show.
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Saldate and Fish bring MSU's total number of national qualifiers to five, as redshirt seniors Rayvon Foley and Cameron Caffey and redshirt junior Layne Malczewski all earned automatic qualification with their finishes over weekend at the Big Ten Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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MSU head coach Roger Chandler has now led 26 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships since taking over as head coach in 2016-17.
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Saldate is coming off an eighth-place finish in the 157-pound weight class at the B1G Championships, going 26-8 this season with a team-best seven falls and capturing an individual title at the Michigan State Open. The 165-pound Fish also finished eighth at the conference tournament to hold a 22-12 record on the campaign in addition to his own MSU Open crown.
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At 133 pounds, Foley went 3-2 at the Big Ten Championships, battling back from a quarterfinal loss to finish sixth. Caffey also placed sixth after reaching the 197-pound semifinals, while Malczewski wrestled his way to a 10th-place finish after suffering a first-round loss.
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Foley and Caffey are both four-time NCAA qualifiers and former All-Americans, while this will be Malczewski's third time qualifying for the national championships. This is the second NCAA qualification for Saldate after making it last year as a freshman, and Fish will be appearing in his first NCAA Championships.
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The 44 at-large selections released Tuesday join the 286 student-athletes that qualified through their conference tournament finishes over this past weekend. The at-large selections were made by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee using the following selection criteria: head-to-head competition, quality wins (defined as wins against wrestlers already in the field), coaches ranking, results against common opponents, conference tournament placement and winning percentage. The committee was also able to use subjective criteria such as, but not limited to, historical performance.
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Seeding and brackets for this year's event will be revealed on Wednesday, March 9, during the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships Selection Show on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. ET.
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A total of 33 wrestlers will make up each weight class at the national tournament, and all 33 will be ranked with seeds, which will be revealed Wednesday night during the selection show.
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Players Mentioned
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