EAST LANSING— The Michigan State wrestling team travels to Piscataway, New Jersey to take on No. 12 Rutgers in its Big Ten road finale.
Michigan State is coming off a 12-25 loss against Wisconsin dropping their conference record to 0-6 and overall record to 4-7.
The Spartans, still searching for their first conference win, will have a tough battle ahead of them. The Scarlet Knights boast a top tier lineup with two top 10 wrestlers, with Dean Peterson in the 125lb weight class and Dylan Shawver in the 133lb class. Along with three top 15 wrestlers in Joey Olivieri in the 141lb class, John Poznanski in the 197lb class, and heavyweight Yaraslau Slavikouski.
In the 197lb weight class Michigan States’ redshirt-freshman Remy Cotton, a bright spot on the Spartans struggling team, has a 5-5 record in duels so far this year. Cotton will be taking on Scarlet Knight senior, No. 15 John Poznanski. Last year Poznanski won his match 22-6 by technical fall and currently sits 10-3 in duels this season.
Last season the Spartans hosted Rutgers at Jenison Fieldhouse, as the Scarlet Knights beat MSU, winning 22-13. The Spartans will only have two returning wrestlers from last year’s match.
In the 157lb weight class, redshirt-sophomore Braden Stauffenberg will be going up against Scarlet Knight freshman Conner Harer. The star-studded freshman has put together a 10-6 season in duels thus far and has made it to No. 54 in his weight. Last year Stauffenberg lost his match 5-3, however this season, the Spartan sophomore has moved up a weight class.
In the 133lb weight class the Spartans have sent out both redshirt-senior Tristan Lujan who is 2-2 in duels and redshirt-junior Andy Hampton who is 2-5 in duels.
Whoever the Spartans send will take on Scarlet Knight senior No. 10 Dylan Shawver who is 11-5 in duels. Shawver took the match last year 22-6 by technical fall against Hampton. Lujan lost 4-1 last year against Rutgers but has also moved up a weight class this season.
The meet is set to start at 7pm ET on Friday, February 14 at Jersey Mike’s Arena and will be streamed live on B1G+ to conclude the three-game road trip.
