2024 Michigan State Open Coverage

The MSU Open is always a great time. Anyone available and nearby should start every season by checking out this awesome event. Michigan State wrestling always does an awesome job with hosting and putting on this event, and you can watch some excellent wrestling from the freshman/sophomore division, through the excellent competition in the Open division. A great perk of my position is that I get to interview some of the coaches and athletes while attending. Early on, I had the chance to meet with Dylan Ragusin and talk about how his experience from last season and the summer will lead to additional success this season

While floating around and watching the matches, I also had a chance to grab Northwestern’s Trevor Chumbley to talk through what he can expect from him and his squad this season, as well as what the fans can expect from Evanston Illinois as they host the B1G Championships.

Shortly thereafter, I had the pleasure of watching Johnny Lovett get some work done on his way to the finals of the deep and talented 157-pound finals, where he ended up dropping a close match to All-American Peyten Kellar of Ohio. Here is Johnny after his quarterfinal victory:

Michigan sent a solid contingent of competitors to this tournament, including Chase Saldate who placed 3rd at 157. Some of their other wrestlers had recently competed at the Clarion Open the previous weekend. Here, I connect with Joseph Walker, 174, who is fresh off of winning that tournament. Here he talks about his journey and patience as he prepared year after year for the chance to be a full time starter:

Additionally, I grabbed Jack Medley - Director of Operations for Michigan wrestling, to talk about the team this season and what to expect from their squad;

Being a B1G correspondent for InterMat, I wanted to try to grab as many competitors as I could reasonably get interviews from. Balancing the interview portion with not bothering the athletes as they battle with some of the best in the country is tough, but I knew I wanted to grab Derek Gilcher, the Hoosier who is battling to get himself in the lineup this season. Here he talks about coming back from injury and his approach to this season;

What’s better than interviewing one Gilcher? Interviewing two of them. Here I talk with Dylan Gilcher about his recent experience at the Clarion Open, and his approach headed into his first season with the Wolverines;

I wasn’t about to leave East Lansing without grabbing Ben Bennett, who was coaching in his first competition as the Head Coach of the Chippewas. Here he talks about what we can expect from this Central Michigan team as they look to defend their title as MAC Champions, as well as how Johnny Lovett is looking to stay aggressive this season;

I genuinely love this tournament, and though I didn’t get to speak with everyone I had hoped to, I got some great insight from athletes and coaches as the 2024/2025 season gets underway. I hope you enjoyed these interviews, and I hope to grab some more as the year continues to unfold.