No. 14 Wrestling Closes Out B1G Dual Slate with Northwestern and No. 3 Michigan

No. 14 Michigan State (9-2, 4-2 B1G) vs. Northwestern (4-4, 2-4 B1G)
Date: Friday, Feb. 11
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Jenison Field House (East Lansing, Mich.)
Watch: Big Ten Plus

Michigan State at No. 3 Michigan (9-1, 5-1 B1G)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 13
Time: Noon ET
Location: Cliff Keen Arena (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Watch: Big Ten Plus

Notes: Michigan State | Northwestern | Michigan
Program: Northwestern

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State wrestling team concludes its Big Ten dual-meet schedule this weekend when it hosts Northwestern on Friday night at 7 p.m. before traveling to Ann Arbor on Sunday to face rival No. 3 Michigan at noon in college wrestling's longest uninterrupted rivalry.

Looking to get to five conference wins for the first time since the 2002-03 season, the No. 14 Spartans are also attempting to reach double-digit dual wins overall for the second time in four years and just the fourth time since 1999-2000.

Owen Oszust will join former Spartan Eric Olanowski on Friday night's broadcast for Big Ten Plus, while Sunday's B1G+ feed will have Malik Amine calling all the action.

ABOUT THE SPARTANS

MSU is coming off a 28-9 victory at Maryland that secured the Spartans a .500-or-better finish in conference duals this season.
The win over the Terrapins opened with back-to-back major decisions from sophomore Tristan Lujan and redshirt senior Rayvon Foley in the 125 and 133-pound bouts and a sudden-victory decision by 141-pound graduate student Matt Santos, while sophomore Chase Saldate got his team-leading seventh fall when he pinned Lucas Cordio in the first period of the 157 match. A 165-pound decision for Caleb Fish led to ranked matchups for redshirt junior Layne Malczewski and redshirt senior Cameron Caffey at 184 and 197, as Malczewski earned a 3-2 decision over No. 13 Kyle Cochran and Caffey came back for a 5-3 win against No. 26 Jaron Smith. Redshirt senior Brad Wilton finished the night with a sudden-victory win of his own in the heavyweight match with Zach Schrader.
The win at Maryland gave MSU a 7-1 edge in the all-time series with the Terps, with the Spartans taking five-straight in the series.
Saldate's 23 overall wins and seven major decisions pace the team along with his seven pins, while Ryan Vasbinder has a team-best five technical falls. Caffey leads the Spartans with his 11 dual wins and 40 dual points, with Foley and Malczewski both behind him at 38 dual points.
Caffey is bringing an eight-match winning streak into the weekend, while Malczewski has faced five-straight ranked wrestlers.

RANKING MICHIGAN STATE

MSU continued to move up the NWCA Coaches Poll, reaching No. 14 this week. The team cracked the Top-25 on Jan. 18, being ranked 21st before moving up to No. 18 and then No. 17 the past two weeks.
The Spartans are 14th in the NWCA rankings for the first time since Feb. 2, 2005, also the team's high ranking since reaching No. 12 on Feb. 9, 2005.
Head coach Roger Chandler's squad had been receiving votes every week this season prior to Jan. 18, with MSU also being ranked in all but one week last season.
The team also holds the No. 15 spot in dual rankings from FloWrestling, Intermat and WIN Magazine. MSU sits No. 18 in WrestleStat's tournament rankings, No. 32 in the Flo tournament ranking and No. 38 in the WIN Tournament Power Index.
In the initial NCAA Coaches Rankings for the 2022 National Championships unveiled on Jan. 21, five Spartans appeared in among the top-33 names in their respective weight class. Foley ranked No. 10 for the 133-pounders, while Saldate was No. 19 among 157-pound wrestlers, Fish came in 26th at 165 pounds, Malczewski ranked No. 21 in the 184 class and Caffey appeared at No. 16 for the 197-pounders.
Foley is top-10 in four of the five rankings, landing No. 8 on WrestleStat and sitting No. 10 according to Flo, The Open Mat and WIN, while he ranks No. 11 for Intermat.
Saldate has risen to No. 12 on WrestleStat, No. 17 on Intermat and No. 19 on The Open Mat, still receiving honorable mention from FloWrestling.
Fish holds an honorable mention from Flo Wrestling and ranks No. 29 according to WrestleStat.
Malczewski has continued to climb in the rankings, going to No. 12 on WrestleStat, 18th on Flo and Open Mat, and No. 19 for Intermat.
Caffey enters the week ranked in the Top-10 of every 197-pound list, as high as No. 3 on WrestleStat while sitting No. 7 on Intermat, No. 8 on Flo and Open Mat, and No. 9 with WIN.

SCOUTING NORTHWESTERN

Northwestern is riding a two-match winning streak with a 26-13 victory over then-No. 23 Illinois on Feb. 29 and a 29-7 win against Maryland on Feb. 6 after dropping its first four Big Ten duals.
The Wildcats have six wrestlers on the latest Intermat rankings, with 157-pound Ryan Deakin being the highest at the No. 2 spot. Chris Cannon ranks No. 9 among 133-pounders, while Lucas Davison is 10th on the heavyweight rankings, Yahya Thomas ranks 11th for 149 pounds, Michael DeAugustino sits No. 13 at 125 pounds and Andrew Davison ranks 29th among 197-pounders.
Deakin cruised to his third-straight CKLV title at 157 pounds in December, going 5-0 over that weekend and recording three wins over Top-15 opponents.
Lucas Davison was the first winner of Big Ten Wrestler of the Week this season, as he went 4-0 by a combined 30-7 margin to take the heavyweight title at November's Michigan State Open.
The 285-pounder Davison also paces the team with 15 wins on the season, with Cannon and 174-pound Troy Fisher behind him at 11 wins apiece.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN

Michigan, ranked third in the NWCA for most of the season, will enter Friday's match at Indiana on a four-match winning streak after dropping a 29-6 loss to top-ranked Penn State on Jan. 21. Five ranked wins gives the Wolverines an impressive 9-1 record on the season.
All 10 starters for the Wolverines appear in this week's Intermat rankings, headlined by No. 1 Nick Suriano at 25 pounds. Myles Amine ranks second in the nation for 184-pounders, while heavyweight Mason Parris (No. 3), 174-pound Logan Massa (No. 5), 133-pounder Dylan Ragusin (No. 7) and 157-pound Will Lewan (No. 9) are all among the top-10 wrestlers in their respective weight classes.
Ragusin and fellow 133-pounder Drew Mattin are the team leaders with 16 wins each, while Suriano (5-0) and 149-pound Kanan Storr (3-0) are both undefeated in dual action. Ragusin also paces Michigan with four major decisions, four technical falls and 33 dual points.
Ragusin took the 133-pound crown at the CKLV Invitational in December with a 4-0 tournament record.
Parris was the 2021 NCAA heavyweight runner-up, one of four All-Americans for the Wolverines last spring.

SERIES HISTORIES

Michigan State leads the all-time series with Northwestern at 28-22, but Northwestern has won eight of the last 10 meetings.
The two sides did not wrestle last season, with the Wildcats winning the last match, 24-15, on Feb. 7, 2020 despite winning decisions from Malczewski (174) and Caffey (184).
Sunday with mark the 114th meeting between the Spartans and Wolverines on the mat, as Michigan has a 73-35-5 all-time advantage over MSU.
Last season's edition of the rivalry ended in a 28-9 win for Michigan, but the highlight of the match was then-redshirt freshman Peyton Omania scoring a 15-8 decision over Storr at 149 pounds just days after the passing of his high school coach Mark Halvorson. The Spartans also has winning decisions from Foley at 125 and Malczewski at 184.
After the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted several consecutive-year wrestling matchups last season, including a multiple Ivy League series that went back more than a century, the Michigan/Michigan State rivalry is now the longest active series at 76 consecutive years, dating back to 1946. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State list one spot behind at 75 consecutive years.

UP NEXT
Michigan State will host No. 20 Central Michigan in its regular-season finale on Friday, Feb. 18. The 6 p.m. match will serve as the Spartans' Senior Night and Almuni Reunion.

MICHIGAN STATE PROBABLE LINEUP
125 – Tristan Lujan (SO | 9-8)
133 – #10/11 Rayvon Foley (R-SR | 22-2)
141 – Jordan Hamdan (R-SO | 8-9) -OR- Matt Santos (GRAD | 9-8)
149 – Eddie Homrock (SO | 10-5) -OR- Peyton Omania (R-SO | 7-8)
157 – HM/#17 Chase Saldate (SO | 23-3)
165 – HM/NR Caleb Fish (SO | 19-7)
174 – Nathan Jimenez (R-JR | 7-12) -OR- Marty Larkin (SO | 8-9)
184 – #18/19 Layne Malczewski (R-JR | 19-7)
197 – #8/7 Cameron Caffey (R-SR | 22-4)
285 – Brad Wilton (R-SR | 9-12)

NORTHWESTERN PROBABLE LINEUP
125 – #7/13 Michael DeAugustino (R-JR | 5-1)
133 – #8/8 Chris Cannon (R-SO | 11-2)
141 – Frankie Tal-Shahar (SO | 6-6)
149 – #11/11 Yahya Thomas (R-SR | 9-4)
157 – #2/2 Ryan Deakin (GRAD | 8-0)
165 – David Ferrante (SO | 7-6)
174 – Troy Fisher (R-SO | 11-6)
184 – Jon Halvorsen (R-SO | 1-6) -OR- Jack Jessen (R-SO | 1-6)
197 – #22/29 Andrew Davison (GRAD | 9-6)
285 – #9/10 Lucas Davison (R-JR | 15-4)

MICHIGAN PROBABLE LINEUP
125 – #1/1 Nick Suriano (GRAD | 6-0)
133 – #7/7 Dylan Ragusin (SO | 16-4)
141 – #15/17 Stevan Micic (GARD | 3-3)
149 – Pat Nolan (JR | 6-7)
157 – #12/9 Will Lewan (SR | 12-3)
165 – #11/14 Cameron Amine (JR | 10-4)
174 – #6/5 Logan Massa (GRAD | 6-1)
184 – #2/2 Myles Amine (GRAD | 11-1)
197 – #7/11 Patrick Brucki (GRAD | 14-5)
285 – #4/3 Mason Parris (SR | 10-2)

*Individual Rankings based on FloWrestling/Intermat

No. 14 Wrestling Closes Out B1G Dual Slate with Northwestern and No. 3 Michigan

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Eddie Homrock

Nathan Jimenez

Marty Larkin

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Ryan Vasbinder

Brad Wilton

No. 14 Wrestling Closes Out B1G Dual Slate with Northwestern and No. 3 Michigan

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Caffey

Caleb Fish

Rayvon Foley

Jordan Hamdan

Eddie Homrock

Nathan Jimenez

Marty Larkin

Tristan Lujan

Layne Malczewski

Peyton Omania

Chase Saldate

Matt Santos

Ryan Vasbinder

Brad Wilton

Related Videos