Wrestling Travels to North Carolina for Meeting with Gardner-Webb

(RV) Michigan State (2-0) at Gardner-Webb (1-2)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 11
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Location: Paul Porter Arena (Boiling Springs, N.C.)
Watch: ESPN+
Notes: Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State wrestling team continues it three-week stretch of non-conference dual meets this weekend at Gardner-Webb.

Coming off its two dual wins in the state of Pennsylvania last week, MSU makes the trek to Boiling Springs, N.C., on Saturday, Dec. 11 to take on the Runnin' Bulldogs in a 6 p.m. battle on ESPN+.

Last Time Out

Despite not holding a lead the entire night and trailing by 12 team points after seven bouts, MSU rallied in its first dual meet of the season for a 19-17 win over Lock Haven on Dec. 2.
Winning only two of the first seven matches (Redshirt senior Rayvon Foley at 133; sophomore Chase Saldate at 157), the Spartans rattled off three-straight bonus-point victories to end the match, as a pin from redshirt junior Layne Malczewski with two seconds left in his 184 bout ushered in major decisions from redshirt seniors Cameron Caffey (197) and Brad Wilton (285).
Sophomore Caleb Fish notched his first win over a top-10 opponent in the highlight bout of the Dec. 3 match, as MSU battled its way to a comfortable 23-10 victory over Bucknell … Seven bouts went in the Spartans' favor, highlighted by Fish's 165 upset and major decisions by Saldate and Caffey.

Scouting Michigan State

With a 2-0 duals record, the Spartans have went 12-8 in dual bouts and posted five bonus-point victories in those dual matches.
The team also had success with its two opening tournaments, as Saldate (157 Open Division) and Fish (165 Underclassman Division) claimed individual titles at the MSU Open, while Foley (133) and redshirt sophomore Peyton Omania (149) took home titles at the Navy Classic two weeks later.
Saldate has been the most consistent Spartan, posting a 11-1 record and tallying six falls, including a team-best 0:37 pin in the MSU Open finals over Munkhtulga Zuunbayan of Northern Illinois.
Fish is the lone Spartan with two technical fall victories, while Caffey, Malczewski and Jimenez have all posted three major decisions.
With sophomore Tristan Lujan sidelined, graduate student Julian Saldana has held down the 125-class, going 5-5 overall and forcing overtime in both of his dual bouts, claiming a 4-2 tiebreaking decision over Brandon Seidman in the Bucknell dual.

Ranking the Spartans

Michigan State enters Thursday receiving votes in this week's NWCA Coaches Poll … MSU has been right outside the Top-25 all season, receiving votes every week.
Along with the NWCA rankings, MSU is just outside the Top-25 in several other team rankings, coming in at No. 28 in the WrestleStat Dual Rankings and landing at No. 38 on FloWrestling's team rankings.
Individually, six different Spartans are ranked in at least one of the four rankings from Flowrestling (Top 25 individuals in each weight class), Intermat (Top 33 individuals), OnTheMat (Top 20 individuals), and Wrestle Stat (Top 50 individuals).
Foley is the highest-ranked Spartan, coming in at No. 11 for Intermat and sitting top-17 in all four rankings … Foley is one of two Spartans to be ranked in all five polls, joined by Caffey.

Quoting Coach Roger Chandler
"If you would have saw the team compete Thursday night compared to Friday, it was a tale of two different teams. Our guys learned not to take things for granted, that you can't underestimate any opponent, and our guys stepped up to the challenge on Friday night. I think you saw the team gel in many ways at that moment. As a coach, that's all you can ask for. I talk a lot about process and execution and effort within our program, very seldom do I talk about winning and losing. They gave me what I asked for as a coach on day two and we moved forward."

About Gardner-Webb

The Runnin' Bulldogs opened the season with a 30-3 win over Belmont Abbey before posting four placers at Appalachian State's Mountaineer Open. Gardner-Webb then fell in a pair of road duals to Virginia Tech and NC State.
Head coach Daniel Elliott is in his 10th season at the helm of his alma-mater and has had 10 national qualifiers in over the past five NCAA Championships, along with being responsible for the program's first individual SoCon champion in 2013 and leading GWU to a share of the regular-season conference crown in 2015-16.
The Runnin' Bulldogs bring back its top four wrestlers from 2020-21, as RJ Mosley (165; 9-2), Jha'Quan Anderson (184; 7-1), Anthony Perrine (285; 6-3) and Trevon Majette (141; 5-3) all return for Coach Elliott.
Pacing GWU in overall wins is freshman 285-pounder Peyton McComas at 6-5 this season … After both being national qualifiers last season, Mosley is currently 3-1 and Anderson sits at 2-4.

Series History

This will mark the second all-time meeting between the programs, as the only other matchup was a Nov. 16, 2013 showdown that ended in a 26-13 MSU win.
MSU and Gardner-Webb will both attend the Southern Scuffle at the start of the New Year in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Up Next
MSU continue on the road for its next two dates, beginning on Saturday, Dec. 18 at Olivet for a tri-meet with Baldwin Wallace and the host Comets. The road stretch wraps up with the Spartans heading to the Southern Scuffle on Jan. 1-2, 2022 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Gardner-Webb Probable Lineup
125: Aedyn Concepcion (SO | 1-4)
133: Todd Carter (SO | 2-3)
141: Trevon Majette (R-SR | 2-3)
149: Brandon Bright (R-SR | 1-4)
157: Corbin Dion (SO | 0-2)
165: R.J. Mosley (R-JR | 3-2)
174: Evan Schenk (R-SR | 3-4)
184: Jha'Quan Anderson (R-SO | 2-4)
197: Anthony Perrine (R-SR | 2-4)
285: Peyton McComas (FR | 2-4)

Michigan State Probable Lineup
125: Julian Saldana (GRAD | 5-5) --OR-- Andy Hampton (FR | 4-4)
133: No. 15 Rayvon Foley (R-SR | 8-1)
141: Matt Santos (GRAD | 7-5)
149: Peyton Omania (R-SO | 4-2) --OR-- Eddie Homrock (SO | 2-2)
157: No. 24 Chase Saldate (SO | 11-1) --OR-- Cameron Monzadeh (R-SR | 0-2)
165: Caleb Fish (SO | 10-2)
174: Nathan Jimenez (R-JR | 4-4)
184: No. 21 Layne Malczewski (R-JR | 8-3)
197: Honorable Mention Cameron Caffey (R-SR | 8-3)
285: Brad Wilton (R-SR | 4-6)

*Individual Rankings based on FloWrestling (Dec. 6)

Wrestling Travels to North Carolina for Meeting with Gardner-Webb

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Andy Hampton

Eddie Homrock

Nathan Jimenez

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Cameron Monzadeh

Peyton Omania

Julian Saldana

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Brad Wilton

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