Big Ten Announces Pre-Seeds for 2024 Wrestling Championships

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State wrestling landed six individuals as Top 10 pre-seeds for the 2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships as announced by the conference on Monday night.

The pre-seeds, as voted on by the league's coaches, rank all 14 starters at each of the 10 weight classes based on their season record, NCAA Individual Ranking and head-to-head performances against other members of the tournament field. The complete tournament brackets and official seeds for this season's championships will be released by the league office following the Big Ten coaches meeting later this week.

Senior 165-pounder and No. 9-ranked Caleb Fish enters as the highest-ranked Spartan coming in at No. 4 in his weight class. Fish, who is labeled as, "the strongest wrestler in the room," finished the regular season with a 23-6 record, a 14-2 dual record with a 4-2 B1G record. Against Michigan, the Eaton Rapids, Michigan, native defeated then No. 5-ranked Cameron Amine with a last second takedown to walk out with a thrilling 6-4 victory. This will be his third Big Ten Championships appearances, last season Fish entered as the No. 7 seed and finished 2-2.

157-pound senior Chase Saldate enters at the No. 6 seed as he gears up for his fourth Big Ten Championship appearance. A native of Gilroy, California, Saldate has picked up at least two victories each year in the B1G Championships including a 4-1 run his freshman year. Chasing for gold, Saldate went 22-4 overall and had a blistering 14-1 dual record, his lone loss came in a tiebreaker defeat to Penn State's No. 1-ranked Levi Haines. Ranked fourth in the nation with 10 falls, the No. 20-ranked wrestler had two separate occasions with three straight victories by pins.

At 184-pounds, graduate Layne Malczewski is set to make his fifth appearance in the Big Ten Championships earning the No. 6 seed. Despite battling an early season injury, Malczewski won eight of his last 11 matches to end the season with an 11-6 overall record. In his final match inside Jenison Field House, Malczewski defeated Central Michigan's Adrien Cramer 12-5 to earn his 100^th career victory.

Redshirt senior Jordan Hamdan cracks the Top 10 at 141-pounds as the No. 8 seed. Hamdan bolsters a 19-9 overall record with an 11-5 dual record. With a 3-3 Big Ten dual record, the Hudson, Michigan, native pulled off a 5-1 upset against Rutgers' then No. 11-ranked Mitch Moore who is slotted as the No. 7 seed.

Heavyweight redshirt freshman Josh Terrill just cracks the Top 10 as he sits as the No. 9 seed entering championship weekend. Terrill had a big first season in the starting lineup, his 25 total wins is best for fifth in the country.

Redshirt junior 125-pounder Tristan Lujan enters as the No. 10 seed with a 14-13 overall record and 4-8 in dual competition. Lujan placed in two tournaments over the season, with a third place finish at the Black Knight Invite and placed seventh at the Midlands Championships.

Redshirt freshman No. 30-ranked Kael Wisler (197) slotted as the No. 11 seed, redshirt sophomore Andy Hampton (133) and Braden Stauffenberg (149) enter as the No. 12 seeds in their respective weight classes and redshirt senior DJ Shannon rounds out the list as the No. 13 seed at 174 pounds.

Michigan State will travel to College Park, Maryland, for the 2024 Big Ten Championships on March 9-10. The Spartans have won eight Big Ten team titles in the program's storied history, while 67 individuals have captured titles at their respective weight classes.