Spartan Wrestling Concludes Season at 2023 NCAA Championships

TULSA, Okla. – Michigan State saw a pair of wrestlers reach the Round of 12 in their respective weight classes, but the Spartans ultimately concluded their 2022-23 season on Friday evening at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships inside the BOK Center.

Junior 157-pounder Chase Saldate led the Spartans on the second day of the tournament with a 2-1 combined record in Sessions III and IV. Saldate began his Friday outing in the Consolation Second Round with a rematch from the Big Ten Championships fifth-place bout against 12th-seeded Kendall Coleman of Purdue. For the second-straight time in their season series, Saldate came away with a thrilling 6-4 decision to extend his stay in Tulsa, bolstered by a third-period takedown in addition to the riding time point.

In his ensuing match against Northwestern's 13th-seeded Trevor Chumbley, Saldate utilized a 3-1 takedown advantage to notch an impressive 8-5 decision in his second match of the day. In the Round of 12 against seventh-seeded Bryce Andonian of Virginia Tech, Saldate battled but ultimately surrendered a pin at the 6:22 mark to close the book on his junior campaign.

With his showing at the tournament this season, Saldate became the first individual from MSU to book a trio of wins at the NCAA Championships since graduate Rayvon Foley cemented his place as an All-American at 125 pounds in 2019. Saldate wraps up his season with a single-season career-high 28 wins in 2022-23, surpassing his previous career best of 26 wins set last season. The Gilroy, California, native became the second consecutive Spartan to go 8-0 in the Big Ten dual campaign, joining teammate Cameron Caffey's unbeaten run from a year ago.

After a triumphant opening day of the NCAA Tournament, junior 165-pounder Caleb Fish returned to action seeking further success on the mat in the Sooner State. In the National Quarterfinals against fifth-seeded Quincy Monday of Princeton, Fish suffered a pair of takedowns in the first period and never recovered, as the Tiger grappler published a 10-4 decision to advance to the National Semifinals at 165. In Fish's Round of 12 match on Friday evening, the Spartan faced North Dakota State's seventh-seeded Michael Caliendo III, with the Bison wrestler running up an 8-1 lead in the first period that Fish was ultimately unable to overcome, culminating in a 12-6 decision for NDSU.

The Eaton Rapids, Michigan, native Fish concluded his best season all-time in 2022-23, compiling a 28-11 overall record this year, locking him in a tie with Saldate for the most wins by a Spartan this season. His previous career high for wins in a single season came last year, as the MSU junior logged a 22-14 record in 2021-22. Fish made history at the 2023 Championships, entering the tournament as the No. 29 seed and becoming the lowest seed to win a first-round match in two years as well as the lowest to reach the National Quarterfinals since the NCAA began seeding all 33 individuals at each weight in 2019.

Redshirt senior 184-pounder Layne Malczewski began Session III in the Consolation First Round against 17th-seeded Tate Samuelson of Lehigh, with the Mountain Hawk grappler coming away with a 5-1 decision over Michigan State's starter. Samuelson and Malczewski battled for the majority of the first period without incident, but Lehigh's star was able to secure a takedown with 29 seconds left in the frame. Malczewski chose bottom to start the second period and escaped 27 seconds into the period to cut the lead to 2-1. Samuelson started the final two minutes on bottom and notched an escape with 1:38 remaining in the bout, adding a takedown near the end of the match to secure the 5-1 result.

Malczewski, a native of Macomb, Michigan, completed his redshirt senior season in the Green & White with a striking 24-6 overall record, cementing the best win percentage on the MSU roster in 2022-23. The Spartan captain also led Michigan State with a whopping 11 pins this year, surpassing the next-closest teammate in Fish by a trio of falls. Malczewski earned his first career victory at the NCAA Championships this season, breaking a five-match losing skid in the consolation first round against Zayne Lehman of Ohio on Thursday evening.

As a team, Michigan State completed the 2023 NCAA Championships with 6.0 team points scored, placing them in a tie for 40th nationally alongside Oklahoma and Utah Valley. The defending National Champion Penn State Nittany Lions maintain a dominant lead over the competition, boasting 116.5 team points through the first four sessions of the tournament. Iowa holds second place with 77.0 points, followed by Cornell at 64.0 and Ohio State rounding out the top four with 62.0 team points.

POSTMATCH QUOTES
MICHIGAN STATE QUOTES
Head Coach Roger Chandler
On Caleb Fish and Chase Saldate's performances on Friday…
"Specifically for Caleb (Fish) and Chase (Saldate), they were both in the blood rounds at the NCAA Tournament. They put themselves in that position, and yeah, they came up short. But, there is no doubt in my mind that this result is going to motivate both of them to be on that podium in the future. Neither of those guys should hang their heads, because at the end of the day, they left everything they could out on that mat. That is all that we ask of our guys. We ask our guys to give 100% effort, and they both did that with a lot on the line today and throughout the weekend. I couldn't be more proud of those two guys."

On Layne Malczewski's consolation second round match at the NCAA Championships…
"Layne Malczewski has been dinged up for a good part of the year, if not the entire second half of the season. He was able to get his first career win at the tournament, and he came up just short today. He is a big leader for our program, and he is someone that we point to as a source of energy to help drive every guy in our program to success in this sport."

On the results from Malczewski, Fish and Saldate translating to the future of the program…
"Those three guys have experience with winning matches at the national tournament now. All three of those guys had been to the NCAA Championships previously, but none of them had ever earned a win until this year. There's a lot to be said about the growth that all of them have shown over the years. They have evolved in so many ways, and have conquered a lot of the things that held them back in the past. That experience and that confidence will be key to helping our program move forward, because those three guys have been and will continue to be leaders for our program. We have a lot of guys sitting at home right now who I expect to be at the tournament next season, and the three guys who wrestled today will lead the way for them."

WRESTLING MATCH RESULTS
2023 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
BOK Center – Tulsa, Okla.
157 Pounds / #11 Seed / Chase Saldate
Day One
First Round | #22 Derek Holschlag (UNI) dec. #11 Chase Saldate (MSU) 4-3
Cons. First Round | #11 Chase Saldate (MSU) fall over #27 Cesar Alvan (COLU) 3:00
Day Two
Cons. Second Round | #11 Chase Saldate (MSU) dec. #12 Kendall Coleman (PUR) 6-4
Cons. Third Round | #11 Chase Saldate (MSU) dec. #13 Trevor Chumbley (NU) 8-5
Round of 12 | #7 Bryce Andonian (VT) fall over #11 Chase Saldate (MSU) 6:22

165 Pounds / #29 Seed / Caleb Fish
Day One
First Round | #29 Caleb Fish (MSU) dec. #4 Julian Ramirez (COR) 8-4
Second Round | #29 Caleb Fish (MSU) dec. #20 Holden Heller (PITT) 7-2
Day Two
Quarterfinals | #5 Quincy Monday (PRIN) dec. #29 Caleb Fish (MSU) 10-4
Round of 12 | #7 Michael Caliendo III (NDSU) dec. #29 Caleb Fish (MSU) 12-6

184 Pounds / #15 Seed / Layne Malczewski
Day One
First Round | #18 Brian Soldano (RUT) fall over #15 Layne Malczewski (MSU) 1:40
Cons. First Round | #15 Layne Malczewski (MSU) dec. #31 Zayne Lehman (OHIO) 3-0
Day Two
Cons. Second Round | #17 Tate Samuelson (LEH) dec. #15 Layne Malczewski (MSU) 5-1

197 Pounds / #19 Seed / Cameron Caffey
Day One
First Round | #14 Jacob Warner (IOWA) dec. #19 Cameron Caffey (MSU) 5-1
Cons. First Round | #30 Andrew Davison (NU) dec. #19 Cameron Caffey (MSU) 3-2

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Spartan Wrestling Concludes Season at 2023 NCAA Championships

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Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Layne Malczewski

Chase Saldate

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