Michigan State wrestling traveled to College Park, Maryland, on March 9 and 10 for the wrestling Big Ten Championships. After two days of meets, the Spartans finished 13th out of 14th in the standings with a team score of 23.5 as they closed out their Big Ten season.
Despite the poor team performance, four Spartans earned qualification for the NCAA Tournament due to their individual finishes at the Big Ten Championship: seniors Chase Saldate and Tristan Lujan, graduate student Layne Malczewski and redshirt senior Jordan Hamdan.
Saldate went 3-2 in the tournament and started his tournament with a victory over No. 11 seed Al Desantis of Rutgers before falling to Indiana's No. 3 seed Brayton Lee in the quarterfinals. In consolations, Saldate split his matches by besting No. 12 seed Michael North of Maryland and falling to Purdue's No. 8 seed Joey Blaze. On the second day of the tournament, Saldate pinned Northwestern's Trevor Chumbley in the first period to earn a seventh-place finish in the 157-pound weigh-in and his NCAA qualification.
In the 185-pound weigh-in, Malczewski joined Saldate with the team's highest finish in the tournament at seventh. On day one, Malczewski earned a decision victory over Illinois' Dylan Connell before falling to Penn State's No. 3 Bernie Truax in a 7-2 decision. In consolation matches, Malczewski split the bouts and earned a victory against Iowa's No. 13 Aiden Riggins while falling to Brian Soldano of Rutgers. On day two, Malczewski put on a dominant performance to claim seventh place and an NCAA birth with an 8-5 decision victory over Wisconsin’s No. 7 seed Shane Liegel.
The third Spartan to earn qualification for the NCAA Tournament was Lujan in the 125-pound weigh-in. Lujan dropped both of his bouts on day one as he faced off against Michigan's No. 7 seed Michael DeAugustino in round one before losing a razor-close 2-1 decision to Purdue's No. 1 seed Matt Ramos. On day two, Lujan bounced back and defeated Northwestern's No. 12 seed Massey Odiotti 11-6 dominantly, before clinching a ninth-place finish with a 5-0 decision over Ohio State's No. 8 seed Brendan McCrone.
The final Spartan to earn an NCAA Tournament birth was Hamdan in the 141-pound weigh-in. The redshirt senior started his tournament off strongly with a 4-2 decision victory over Indiana's No. 9 seed Dan Fongaro in the first round. In the quarterfinals, Hamdan fell to Penn State's No. 1 seed and eventual finalist Beau Bartlett in a 4-2 decision. During the consolation rounds, Hamdan faced Minnesota's No. 10 seed Vance VomBaur, who eventually got a 2-1 decision over Hamdan. On day two in the 11th place bracket, Hamdan faced Purdue's No. 12 Greyson Clark and fell to a 10-9 decision victory. However, with NCAA Tournament qualification on the line, Hamdan delivered as he defeated Maryland's Kal Miller in a 6-3 decision to earn 11th place.
All four Michigan State players will participate in the NCAA Tournament set to take place in Kansas City, Missouri, during the weekend of March 21. ESPN will air the tournament.
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