The MSU wrestling team (4-10, 1-7 Big Ten) hosted the No. 10 University of Michigan Wolverines (8-5, 4-5 Big Ten) Sunday afternoon at Jenison Field House. The team was coming off a 24-12 defeat by then-No. 10 Rutgers Scarlet Knights and looked to earn its second conference win on senior day.
This was the final time the team's seniors — 125-pound Mitch Rogaliner, 149-pound Nick Trimble and 174-pound Drew Barnes — took the mat at Jenison.
The Spartans jumped off to a 3-0 lead as Rogaliner secured one last home victory. He beat No. 10 Conor Youtsey, 3-2.
The Wolverines countered with No. 7 Stevan Micic defeating Austin Eicher 10-2 in the 133-pound weight class to give U-M a 4-3 lead. The meet continued with Javier Gasca earning his 22nd win on the season. He beat Sal Profaci 4-1 in the 141-pound weight class, giving the Spartans a 6-4 lead.
Trimble took the mat next at the 149-pound weight class. He followed fellow senior Rogaliner in the win column with a comeback victory over Malik Amine. At one point, Trimble was trailing 6-1, but clawed his way back into the match and eventually won 13-8, giving the Spartans a 9-4 overall lead.
“You just have to stay focused and continue to compete the whole seven minutes because anything can happen," Trimble said. "I have a pretty good gas tank and I can go the whole seven minutes. I believed in that and pushed through it.”
Trimble ranked his comeback as one of his top wins throughout his five years at MSU.
“It’s up there," Trimble said. "Definitely for senior night against Michigan. It’s the trifecta. The emotions, so much family and friends were here today to help support and it felt really good."
The meet went back and forth as No. 12 Brian Murphy defeated redshirt-freshman Austin Thompson in the 157-pound weight class. Murphy’s 5-1 victory cut MSU’s lead to 9-7.
After intermission, Mark Bozzo took on No. 2 Logan Massa of U-M in the 165-pound weight class. Massa continued his dominant season as he beat Bozzo 23-7 by technical fall. The victory gave the Wolverines a 12-7 overall lead. The 174-pound weight class saw No. 9 Myles Amine beat Senior Drew Barnes 21-5 also by technical fall. It was win No. 21 on the season for Amine and stretched the lead for the Wolverines to 17-9.
The Wolverines earned a fourth straight victory of the meet in the 184-pound weight class. Ernest Battaglia defeated Shwan Shadaia 17-5 to extend their lead by 12, 21-9.
From there, Jackson Striggow defeated Matt Okaiye in the 197-pound weight class, 7-1, to give U-M a 24-9 overall lead.
The meet ended with the 10th and final bout between heavyweights Jacob Cooper of MSU and Ayoola Olapo of U-M. Olapo saw his day cut short as a knee injury forced him to forfeit 36 seconds into the match. The injury decision gave Cooper win No. 11 on the season, but was not enough as the Wolverines defeated the Spartans, 24-15.
In spite of the loss, head coach Roger Chandler had high praise for his team.
“Our mission hasn’t changed," Chandler said. "That is that we compete for seven minutes. Our guys are competing for seven minutes now. I think they need to believe in their abilities, it’s self-confidence. When you have self-confidence and compete for seven minutes, good things happen. They’re going to hit their stride here at the end of the year."
The Spartans will finish the regular season with two road meets against Eastern Michigan University on Feb. 12 and Wisconsin on Feb. 17. From there, it will be onto Bloomington, Ind. for the Big Ten championship.
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