20 former Spartans were in recognized at today's match for Alumni Day, including Hall of Fame coach and the all-time wins leader at MSU, Grady Peninger. Peninger, who coached the Spartans to a national championship in 1967, was joined by Don Behm from the class of 1967 along with 18 other Spartan coaches and wrestlers.
"I was talking to the guys back there in the locker room after the meet," said Chandler. "I've never been part of a Big Ten shutout. This is a special day for these guys. They are the ones that did it, and at the end of the day you have to go out there and wrestle your best and wrestle in all positions for seven minutes and good things typically happen. Our guys did that, and because of that they got a shutout today and they are going to enjoy this."
Michigan State started out at 125 pounds for just the second time in four bouts. Redshirt senior Logan Griffin tallied his 15th win of the season in the opening bout, winning a close 4-3 decision over Brandon Cray. Grffin tallied two takedowns in the bout for the win. At 133 pounds, redshirt senior Garrett Pepple faced off against King Sandoval. In a defensive battle, Sandoval took a late 2-1 lead over Pepple with a takedown in the third frame. Pepple showed resilience and scored a reversal with less than 30 seconds left to secure the 3-2 win.
Leading 6-0, Matt Santos took on Hunter Baxter at 141 pounds. Santos came out with agression, landing a pair of takedowns and an escape point to lead 5-0 in the second. Baxter put together a takedown and escape in the closing minutes, but Santos added a riding time point to secure the 6-3 win and 9-0 lead for the Spartans. Redshirt junior Alex Hrisopoulos battled with Maryland's Michael Doetsch at 149 pounds. Hrisopoulos reeled off an early first period takedown on his way to a 5-1 win with 4:13 of riding time.
Redshirt junior Jake Tucker put together one of the best performances of the day against Lucas Cordio at 157 pounds. Tucker, who leads the team with 19 wins, put together a total of six takedowns and a four-point nearfall on his way to an 18-3 tech fall win over Cordio, pushing the Spartan lead to 17-0 at the break.
"Our guys committed to just wrestling in all positions, and wrestling for seven minutes, and they did that today," said MSU wrestling head coach Roger Chandler. " I got to take my hats off to them. It's tough after a loss on Friday night where we didn't wrestle close to our potential. For us to turn around 48 hours later and to see what they did today, was pretty gratifying for these guys."
The Spartans picked up where they left off in the second frame, grabbing two bonus point wins at 184 and 285 pounds. Redshirt junior Drew Hughes once against showed his dominance on top, riding out a 5-1 win over Kyle Cochran, highlighted by a takedown and a two-point nearfall. Redshirt freshman Layne Malczewski tallied his 17th win of the season at 174 pounds, knocking off No. 23-ranked Philip Spadafora by decision, 3-0. Malczewski showcased his stellar defense on multiple attacks by Spadafora on his way to victory.
Caffey took on Kyle Jasenki at 184 pounds and registered his 13th bonus point win of the season with a fall at 4:49. The redshirt sophomore landed three takedowns over Jasenski before pulling off a duck and throw to seal the fall, moving MSU's lead to 29-0 after eight matches.Caffey moved to 8-2 in dual action with the win.
Redshirt junior Nick May scored a takedown and escape in the second frame on his way to a 3-0 win over the Terrapins' Jaron Smith. Redshirt junior Christian Rebottaro completed the shutout for the Spartans at 285 points with a 14-6 major decision over Parker Robinson. Rebottaro started out slow, before tallying six takedowns in the second and third frames for the win.
MSU returns to action on Friday, Jan. 24 for a non-conference matchup with Clarion at 6 p.m. inside Jenison Field Hous before traveling to Nebraska on Sunday, Jan. 26 to take on the Cornhuskers at 2 p.m. in Lincoln.
Results:
125 - Logan Griffin (MSU) dec. over Brandon Cray (MD), 4-3 - MSU leads 3-0
133 - Garrett Pepple (MSU) dec. over King Sandoval (MD), 3-2 - MSU leads 6-0
141 - Matt Santos (MSU) dec. over Hunter Baxter (MD), 6-3 - MSU leads 9-0
149 - Alex Hrisopoulos (MSU) dec. over Michael Doetsch (MD), 6-1 - MSU leads 12-0
157 - #21 Jake Tucker (MSU) tech. fall over Lucas Cordio (MD), 18-3 - MSU leads 17-0
165 - Drew Hughes (MSU) dec. over Kyle Cochran (MD), 5-1 - MSU leads 20-0
174 - Layne Malczewski (MSU) dec. over #23 Philip Spadafora (MD), 3-0 - MSU leads 23-0
184 - Cameron Caffey (MSU) fall over Kyle Jasenski (MD), 4:49 - MSU leads 29-0
197 - Nick May (MSU) dec. over Jaron Smith (MD), 4-0 - MSU leads 32-0
285 - Christian Rebottaro (MSU) maj. dec. over Parker Robinson (MD), 14-6 - MSU wins 36-0
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