Indiana University Athletics
Sunday, February 4
Bloomington, Ind.
12:00 PM
Indiana University
vs
#21 Michigan State
No. 28 Indiana to Host No. 30 Michigan State
1/31/2024 6:00:00 PM | Wrestling
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –––– No. 28 Indiana will finish off a three-match homestand this weekend as it hosts No. 30 Michigan State on Sunday, Feb. 4 at noon in Wilkinson Hall.
The Hoosiers carry a 5-2 record and a 2-2 Big Ten mark ahead of Sunday's dual. They are riding a two-match winning streak, defeating No. 21 Maryland and Purdue in consecutive weekends.
MICHIGAN STATE MATCHUP:
-Sunday should be a great day of wrestling with two evenly matched teams in No. 28 Indiana and No. 30 Michigan State going toe-to-toe on the mat.
-Indiana enters the dual at 5-2 and 2-2 in conference while Michigan State is 8-3 and 1-3 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are coming off their most impressive win of the season, defeating No. 17 Wisconsin, 22-15 on Friday, Jan. 26.
-Both Indiana and Michigan State boast five ranked wrestlers. The ranked spartans include No. 30 Jordan Hamdan (141), No. 21 Chase Saldate (157), No. 9 Caleb Fish (165), No. 15 Layne Malczewski (184) and No. 29 Kael Wisler (197).
-The matches at 141, 157 and 165 lbs. will all feature ranked wrestlers facing off.
-Michigan State head coach Roger Chandler is an Indiana alum and one of the best wrestlers in school history. He was a three-time All-American from 1995 to 1997 at 142 lbs., including a runner-up finish in 1997. Chandler also was the 1997 Big Ten champion.
-Indiana is seeking its first win over Michigan State since Jan. 22, 2015 when IU won 20-15 in East Lansing.
-Michigan State will also face No. 26 Illinois on Friday this weekend, prior to Sunday's dual.
PURDUE REWIND:
-It was an exciting Saturday at Wilkinson Hall last weekend as No. 28 Indiana defeated rival Purdue, 22-9.
-Indiana won in seven of the ten bouts with two Hoosiers defeating ranked opponents.
-Brayton Lee (157) knocked off No. 16 Joey Blaze by decision, 4-2. DJ Washington (174) beat No. 32 Brody Baumann in a 9-4 decision.
-In addition to Lee and Washington, Cayden and Graham Rooks, Dan Fongaro, Roman Rogotzke and Nick Willham all won their bouts.
-The win propelled IU to a 5-2 record and 2-2 in the conference. The win also marked back-to-back years of defeating Purdue, the first time doing so since 2009 and 2010.
KING PIN:
-Indiana redshirt freshman Gabe Sollars has been racking up the pins all season claiming 11 by the point of matches through January 29.
-The NCAA recently released their mid-season award standings for Most Falls and Most Tech Falls and Sollars currently leads the NCAA with the most wins by fall.
-There's currently a two-way tie for second in the most falls race between Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) and Kelvin Griffin (Lehigh). Both wrestlers currently have ten pins.
-Of Sollars' wins this season, 64.7% of them have come by fall (11-of-17 wins).
CLASS OF 2018:
-Four of the ten Hoosiers in the routine starting lineup are sixth-year seniors.
-These seniors include Michael Spangler (125), Dan Fongaro (141), Graham Rooks (149) and Brayton Lee (157).
-Of the four, Rooks is the only one who has spent all six seasons in Bloomington. Spangler transferred from Pratt Junior College and Lock Haven.
-Fongaro and Lee each spent five seasons at their previous institutions, Columbia and Minnesota, respectively.
NEW FACES:
-Indiana has nine new wrestlers on the roster for this season.
-Of the newbies, five of them are freshmen while the other four are transfers.
-All five freshmen are from the state of Indiana. They include Bryce Lowery (Indianapolis), Joey Buttler (Greenwood), Cheaney Schoeff (Avon), Anthony Bahl (Crown Point) and Aidan Torres (Chesterton).
-Lowery, Buttler and Torres all won an IHSAA individual State Championship during their senior season. Bahl won a Team State Title with the Crown Point Bulldogs, the second in a row for the team, and their third in four years.
-Lowery won IndyStar's Most Outsanding Wrestler award for the best senior wrestler in the state for the 2022-2023 school year.
-Indiana's transfer class includes Dan Fongaro, Brayton Lee, Roman Rogotzke and Aaron Johnson.
-Lee, a known commodity around NCAA Wrestling, returns to his home state after spending five years at Minnesota.
-The two-time All-American (2020, 2021) is seeking to recapture his momentum after entering last season as the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 157 lbs. in the country.
-Lee's 2022-23 season was cut short due to injury at The Big Ten Championships.
-Fongaro comes to Indiana after five years at Columbia where he competed at 141 and 149 lbs. He will wrestle at 141 lbs. for the Hoosiers.
-Fongaro owns fifth and sixth place finishes at the EIWA Championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
-Rogotzke, a transfer at 184 lbs., from South Dakota State, enters his redshirt sophomore season with plenty of momentum.
-Last year, Rogotzke racked up 17 wins and took first place at two open tournaments.
-Johnson joined the Hoosiers at the semester break.
-The Kennesaw, Ga. native and heavyweight wrestled at University of the Cumberlands (NAIA) in Williamsburg, Ky. from 2017-2022.
-Johnson was a four-time NAIA qualifier and three-time All-American at Cumberlands.
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competition to get better and compete on the world stage.
-Senior Jacob Moran competed for Team Puerto Rico at 57 kg in Freestyle and took third place at the Central American and Caribbean Games while also competing at the 2023 U23 World Championships in Albania.
-Derek Gilcher took fifth place at the 2023 U.S. Open at the Senior Level at 74 kg.
-Gabe Sollars earned sixth place at the 2023 U.S. Open in the U20 division in Freestyle at 92 kg. He also had a sixth place finish at the U20 World Team Trials in the same weight class and division.
-DJ Washington finished in second at 86 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Nick Willham had a fourth place finish at 92 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Tyler Lillard earned 7th place at 74 kg in the U20 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Cole Rhemrev took 7th place at 67 kg in Greco-Roman at the U20 World Team Trials. Magnus Kuokkanen got 7th in the same division, but at 77 kg.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION:
-Indiana's roster features wrestlers everywhere across the country.
-Fifteen wrestlers on the team are home grown, in-state Hoosiers, including all of the freshmen.
-Of the 31 wrestlers on the team, there are 14 different states represented.
-The states represented on Indiana's roster include Indiana, New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Minnesota, Kansas, Kentucky and Georgia.
The Hoosiers carry a 5-2 record and a 2-2 Big Ten mark ahead of Sunday's dual. They are riding a two-match winning streak, defeating No. 21 Maryland and Purdue in consecutive weekends.
MICHIGAN STATE MATCHUP:
-Sunday should be a great day of wrestling with two evenly matched teams in No. 28 Indiana and No. 30 Michigan State going toe-to-toe on the mat.
-Indiana enters the dual at 5-2 and 2-2 in conference while Michigan State is 8-3 and 1-3 in the Big Ten. The Spartans are coming off their most impressive win of the season, defeating No. 17 Wisconsin, 22-15 on Friday, Jan. 26.
-Both Indiana and Michigan State boast five ranked wrestlers. The ranked spartans include No. 30 Jordan Hamdan (141), No. 21 Chase Saldate (157), No. 9 Caleb Fish (165), No. 15 Layne Malczewski (184) and No. 29 Kael Wisler (197).
-The matches at 141, 157 and 165 lbs. will all feature ranked wrestlers facing off.
-Michigan State head coach Roger Chandler is an Indiana alum and one of the best wrestlers in school history. He was a three-time All-American from 1995 to 1997 at 142 lbs., including a runner-up finish in 1997. Chandler also was the 1997 Big Ten champion.
-Indiana is seeking its first win over Michigan State since Jan. 22, 2015 when IU won 20-15 in East Lansing.
-Michigan State will also face No. 26 Illinois on Friday this weekend, prior to Sunday's dual.
PURDUE REWIND:
-It was an exciting Saturday at Wilkinson Hall last weekend as No. 28 Indiana defeated rival Purdue, 22-9.
-Indiana won in seven of the ten bouts with two Hoosiers defeating ranked opponents.
-Brayton Lee (157) knocked off No. 16 Joey Blaze by decision, 4-2. DJ Washington (174) beat No. 32 Brody Baumann in a 9-4 decision.
-In addition to Lee and Washington, Cayden and Graham Rooks, Dan Fongaro, Roman Rogotzke and Nick Willham all won their bouts.
-The win propelled IU to a 5-2 record and 2-2 in the conference. The win also marked back-to-back years of defeating Purdue, the first time doing so since 2009 and 2010.
KING PIN:
-Indiana redshirt freshman Gabe Sollars has been racking up the pins all season claiming 11 by the point of matches through January 29.
-The NCAA recently released their mid-season award standings for Most Falls and Most Tech Falls and Sollars currently leads the NCAA with the most wins by fall.
-There's currently a two-way tie for second in the most falls race between Wyatt Hendrickson (Air Force) and Kelvin Griffin (Lehigh). Both wrestlers currently have ten pins.
-Of Sollars' wins this season, 64.7% of them have come by fall (11-of-17 wins).
CLASS OF 2018:
-Four of the ten Hoosiers in the routine starting lineup are sixth-year seniors.
-These seniors include Michael Spangler (125), Dan Fongaro (141), Graham Rooks (149) and Brayton Lee (157).
-Of the four, Rooks is the only one who has spent all six seasons in Bloomington. Spangler transferred from Pratt Junior College and Lock Haven.
-Fongaro and Lee each spent five seasons at their previous institutions, Columbia and Minnesota, respectively.
NEW FACES:
-Indiana has nine new wrestlers on the roster for this season.
-Of the newbies, five of them are freshmen while the other four are transfers.
-All five freshmen are from the state of Indiana. They include Bryce Lowery (Indianapolis), Joey Buttler (Greenwood), Cheaney Schoeff (Avon), Anthony Bahl (Crown Point) and Aidan Torres (Chesterton).
-Lowery, Buttler and Torres all won an IHSAA individual State Championship during their senior season. Bahl won a Team State Title with the Crown Point Bulldogs, the second in a row for the team, and their third in four years.
-Lowery won IndyStar's Most Outsanding Wrestler award for the best senior wrestler in the state for the 2022-2023 school year.
-Indiana's transfer class includes Dan Fongaro, Brayton Lee, Roman Rogotzke and Aaron Johnson.
-Lee, a known commodity around NCAA Wrestling, returns to his home state after spending five years at Minnesota.
-The two-time All-American (2020, 2021) is seeking to recapture his momentum after entering last season as the No. 2 ranked wrestler at 157 lbs. in the country.
-Lee's 2022-23 season was cut short due to injury at The Big Ten Championships.
-Fongaro comes to Indiana after five years at Columbia where he competed at 141 and 149 lbs. He will wrestle at 141 lbs. for the Hoosiers.
-Fongaro owns fifth and sixth place finishes at the EIWA Championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
-Rogotzke, a transfer at 184 lbs., from South Dakota State, enters his redshirt sophomore season with plenty of momentum.
-Last year, Rogotzke racked up 17 wins and took first place at two open tournaments.
-Johnson joined the Hoosiers at the semester break.
-The Kennesaw, Ga. native and heavyweight wrestled at University of the Cumberlands (NAIA) in Williamsburg, Ky. from 2017-2022.
-Johnson was a four-time NAIA qualifier and three-time All-American at Cumberlands.
INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS:
-The Indiana Wrestling team had a number of wrestlers compete in offseason competition to get better and compete on the world stage.
-Senior Jacob Moran competed for Team Puerto Rico at 57 kg in Freestyle and took third place at the Central American and Caribbean Games while also competing at the 2023 U23 World Championships in Albania.
-Derek Gilcher took fifth place at the 2023 U.S. Open at the Senior Level at 74 kg.
-Gabe Sollars earned sixth place at the 2023 U.S. Open in the U20 division in Freestyle at 92 kg. He also had a sixth place finish at the U20 World Team Trials in the same weight class and division.
-DJ Washington finished in second at 86 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Nick Willham had a fourth place finish at 92 kg in the U23 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Tyler Lillard earned 7th place at 74 kg in the U20 World Team Trials in Freestyle.
-Cole Rhemrev took 7th place at 67 kg in Greco-Roman at the U20 World Team Trials. Magnus Kuokkanen got 7th in the same division, but at 77 kg.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISPERSION:
-Indiana's roster features wrestlers everywhere across the country.
-Fifteen wrestlers on the team are home grown, in-state Hoosiers, including all of the freshmen.
-Of the 31 wrestlers on the team, there are 14 different states represented.
-The states represented on Indiana's roster include Indiana, New Mexico, Illinois, New Jersey, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Minnesota, Kansas, Kentucky and Georgia.
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