Big Ten Announces 2024 Wrestling Championship Pre-Seeds

The Big Ten Wrestling Championships for 2024 will include six Michigan State wrestlers as Top 10 pre-seeds, the conference announced on Monday night.

All 14 starters at each of the 10 weight classes are ranked as the pre-seeds by the league’s coaches, who base their selections on the players’ season records, NCAA Individual Rankings, and head-to-head results versus other tournament participants. The league administration will release the official seeds and full tournament brackets for this year’s championships after the Big Ten coaches meeting later this week.

Caleb Fish, ranked No. 9 at the top of the 165-pound division, will enter the fight as the top-ranked Spartan at No. 4 in his weight class. Fisch, who was called “the toughest wrestler in the room,” finished the regular season with a 23-6 record, a 14-2 dual record, and a 4-2 B1G record. Against Michigan, the Eaton Rapids, Michigan native defeated then-No. 5 Cameron Amin in the last minute for a thrilling 6-4 victory. The Fish will be playing in the Big Ten Championship for the third time, finishing 2-2 last season as the No. 7 seed.

157-pound senior Chase Saldeito comes in at No. 6 and is preparing for his fourth trip to the Big Ten Championships. Saldate, a native of Gilroy, Calif., has won at least two B1G championships each year, including a 4-1 victory in his first year. In pursuit of her gold medal, Saldate posted an impressive record of 22-4 overall and 14-1 in doubles. His only loss was in a tiebreaker to No. 1 ranked Levi Haynes of Penn State. The 20th-ranked wrestler, who ranks fourth nationally with 10 falls, had two separate wins with three straight wins by pin.

Graduate Layne Malczewski, weighing 184 pounds, is scheduled to compete in the Big Ten Championships for the fifth time, securing the No. 6 seed. Malczewski battled an early-season injury, but he went on to win eight of his final 11 games, finishing with an overall record of 11-6. In his last game at Jenison Field House, Malczewski won 12-5 over Adrien Cramer of Central Michigan to record his 100th career victory.

At 141 pounds, redshirt senior Jordan Hamdan breaks into the Top 10 as the eighth seed. Hamdan adds an 11-5 dual record to support a 19-9 overall record. The native of Hudson, Michigan, who has a 3-3 Big Ten dual record, stunned Rutgers’ then-No. 11-ranked Mitch Moore, who is slated as the No. 7 seed, 5-1.

Josh Terrill, a redshirt freshman heavyweight who is ranked 9th going into championship weekend, barely makes the Top 10. Terrill had a fantastic debut campaign, placing fifth in the country with a total of 25 wins, the most of any player.

Tristan Lujan, a redshirt junior 125-pound wrestler, comes in as the No. 10 seed after going 14-13 overall and 4-8 in dual competition. During the season, Lujan finished third in the Black Knight Invite and seventh in the Midlands Championships, two tournaments in which he participated.

Redshirt sophomore Andy Hampton (133) and Braden Stauffenberg (149) start as the No. 12 seeds in their respective weight classes, while redshirt senior DJ Shannon (174 pounds) is the No. 13 seed. Kael Wisler (197), a redshirt freshman who is ranked No. 30 in the world, is the No. 11 seed.

On March 9–10, 2024, Michigan State will go to College Park, Maryland, for the Big Ten Championships. In the program’s illustrious history, the Spartans have won eight Big Ten team titles, while 67 individual athletes have won crowns in their various weight divisions.

B1G CHAMPIONSHIP PRE-SEEDS

2024 Big Ten Wrestling Championships