Lovett, Munson Claim Titles at Michigan State Open

Saturday, November 11

East Lansing, Mich.

9 a.m.

Central Michigan University

Michigan State Open

Central Michigan senior Johnny Lovett claimed the 157-pound title on Saturday at the Michigan State Open.

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

11/11/2023 7:58:00 PM | Wrestling

Brackets

Four Chippewas earn championships in freshman/sophomore division; 22 Chippewa place

By: Andy Sneddon

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Six champions among 22 placers.

Not a bad day for the Central Michigan wrestlers on Saturday at the Michigan State Open.

CMU's Johnny Lovett (157 pounds) and Corbyn Munson (149) won their respective weight classes in the open division, while the Chippewas' Kaden Chinavare (125), Jimmy Nugent (141), Cam Adams (165), and Luke Cochran (197) won theirs in the freshman-sophomore division.

Chinavare, Adams and Cochran are freshmen. Twenty-nine Chippewas competed in the tournament, which comprised 19 teams and included wrestlers from Michigan State, Michigan, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio State and Oklahoma. No team scores were kept.

"I was pleased with the way our freshmen wrestled," CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. "We had three freshmen champions and we had seven guys in the finals in the open (division), so I was real pleased with that.

"On the open side I felt like we had the potential to have more champions, just to close the day better. That's something we need to work on, finishing what we start, but overall I was real pleased."

CMU's Sean Spidle (125), Ja'Kerion Merritt (141), Mason Shrader (157), Alex Cramer (174) and Bryan Caves (285) reached the title match in their respective weight classes in the open division, while Trenton Wachter (149) finished fourth, Cody Brenner (184) was fifth, and Tyler Swiderski (165) and placed sixth.

In the freshman/sophomore division, CMU got a second-place finish from Mason Alessio (165), thirds from Brayden Gautreau (174) and Caden Ferris (285), and fourths from Andrew Austin (133), Brock Smith (141), Kellen Aure (141), Louden Stradling (149) and Nick Marienfeld (165).

The Chippewas, who opened the season with a 29-11 dual meet loss on Thursday at home to No. 21 Oklahoma, are scheduled to wrestle North Carolina and Illinois at Illinois in duals on Sunday, Nov. 19.

"We need to shore up some things and we've got some things that we can really work on after this week," Borrelli said. "We wrestled Oklahoma, a good team, and there were some good teams in this tournament too. It wasn't as big a tournament as it's been in the past, but the quality of competition was good.

"I think we wrestled well; we wrestled hard. We just need to get better at finishing some things."

• Munson, who is ranked 13^th nationally by InterMat, pinned No. 15 Joe Zargo of Wisconsin in the 149 championship match.

It was Munson's second victory of the weekend over a ranked wrestler after he topped 14^th-ranked Willie McDougald of Oklahoma in Thursday's dual meet.

Munson recorded two pins, the first over Michael Merrit of Grand Valley State and the second over Cameron Picklo of Oklahoma, and an 8-1 victory over Wisconsin's Aidan Medora en route to his title.

• Lovett, who is ranked 15^th, defeated Shrader in the open 157 final, 8-6. He opened with an 11-3 major decision victory over Aiden Smith of Northern Illinois, and then followed with a 3-1 win over Gavin Model of Wisconsin and a 7-1 victory over John Wiley of Oklahoma.

• Chinavare downed Oklahoma's Kenneth Hendricksen, 4-3, in the fresh/soph 125 final. He opened with a 15-0 techincal fall victory over Aaron Lucio of Grand Valley State, and then followed with 7-2 victory over Ohio State's Vinny Kilkeary and then a 7-5 win over Massey Odiotti of Northwestern.

• Nugent, a sophomore, won by major decision over Northwestern's Kolby McClain in the fresh/soph 141 title match. Nugent opened with a pin of Lucas Nagle of Davenport and then posted a 10-2 major-decision win over Evan Herriman of Michigan State to reach the final.

• Adams defeated Alessio, 10-5, in the fresh/soph 165 final. He pinned Hunter Dreisbach of the U-M Wrestling Club in his opening bout, and then posted a 17-1 technical fall victory over Tyler Pressel of Grand Valley State. Adams reached the final with a 15-2 major decision win over Tyler Martinez of Northern Illinois.

• Cochran defeated Carter Blough of Michigan State, 7-4, in the fresh/soph 197 championship bout. He opened with a pin of Andrew Ward of the U-M Wrestling Club, and then defeated Demond Harrison of Albion, 11-5, to reach the final.

• Spidle fell in the open 125 final to fifth-ranked Eric Barnett of Wisconsin, 5-3. Spidle posted a 19-3 technical fall victory over Michigan's Nolan Wertanen in his opening bout, and then downed Blake West of Northern Illinois, 3-1, to reach the final.

• Merritt opened at 141 with a 17-0 technical fall victory over Dylan Lorincz of Grand Valley State and then downed Davenport's Tyson Emmons, 8-2, in the semifinals. He fell, 5-3, to Northwestern's Joel VanderVere in the title bout.

• Shrader posted three dominant victories to reach the 157 open final, where he fell to Lovett. He opened with a pin of Gustavo Delima of Grand Valley State, then scored an 18-3 technical fall victory over Northern Illinois' Alec Rees, and then scored a 15-6 major decision win over Zack Mattin of Michigan.

• Cramer, who is ranked 18^th, fell to 13^th-ranked Tate Picklo of Oklahoma, 7-2, in the title match in the 174 open bracket. Cramer defeated Picklo, 16-5, when they met in Thursday's dual meet at McGuirk Arena.

Cramer opened with an 18-1 technical fall win over Andrew Knick of Findlay, and then downed Wisconsin's Cale Anderson, 8-7, before topping Oklahoma's Gerrit Nijenhuis on a 13-3 major decision in the semifinals.

• Caves fell in the 285-pound open final to Josh Heindselman, 4-2. Heindselman, who is ranked 14^th, defeated Caves, 21-4, during Thursday's dual. Caves opened with a pin of Jordan Sommers of Northern Illinois and then took a 4-1 (SV-1) win over Jacobi Jackson of Northern Illinois in a semifinal match.

• Wachter opened in the 149 open division with a 4-1 (SV-2) win over Dylan Gilcher of Michigan and then fell on a 15-6 major decision to Wisconsin's Zargo. Wachter rebounded to win three straight matches: 10-7 over Tommy Curran of Northern Illinois; an injury default win over Blake Noonan of Michigan State; and an 11-2 major decision over Cameron Picklo of Oklahoma. Wachter then fell in the third-place match to Samuel Cartella of Northwestern, 9-1.

• Swiderski finished 3-3 on the day, falling in the fifth-place match in the 165 open division to Michigan's Beau Mantanona, 15-6. Swiderski was pinned by fourth-ranked Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin, the eventual champion, in his opening bout, and then reeled off three consecutive victories: 17-3 major decision over Andrew Chambal (unattached); 10-3 win over Mannix Morgan of Oklahoma; 16-6 major decision over Tommy Bennett of Northern Illinois.

Swiderski then dropped a 6-1 decision to Cael Carlson of Oklahoma in a consolation semifinal match.

• After dropping a 19-3 technical fall to unattached Kole Mulhauser in his opening match in the 184-pound open division, Brenner came back to post three straight wins: 11-1 over Vaughn Petty of Findlay; 7-2 over Seth Konynenbelt of Grand Valley State; and 4-2 over teammate Adrien Cramer.

Brenner then dropped a 4-1 decision to 19^th-ranked Giuseppe Hoose of Oklahoma in a consolation semifinal match. Brenner finished fifth when his opponent, Shane Liegel, was a medical forfeit in the fifth-place match.

• Alessio opened with a 17-0 technical fall victory over unattached James Roan and then defeated teammate Nick Marienfeld, 9-3, to reach the final of the fresh/soph 165 final, where he fell, 10-5, to Adams.

• Gautreau claimed third place in the fresh/soph 174 consolation final with a 4-2 win over Michigan's Connor Owens. Gautreau opened with a pin of Davenport's Darrin Alward and then posted a 4-2 win over Indiana's Magnus Kuokkanen. Gautreau dropped a 5-2 decision to Michigan State's Rollie Denker and posted a 19-0 technical fall win over Tanner Reed of Findlay to reach the consolation final.

• Ferris pinned Owen Hawley of Grand Valley in the fresh/soph 285 consolation final to place third. Ferris opened with an 8-1 win over Hawley and then dropped a 9-2 decision to James Campbell of Michigan State. Ferris then pinned Zain Bell of Findlay to set up a rematch with Hawley in the consolation final.

• Austin dropped a 12-9 decision to Jaden Crumpler of Michigan State in the fresh/soph 133 consolation final. He opened with a 12-3 major decision win over unattached Vinnie D'Alessandro and then fell, 6-4, to Zan Fugitt of Wisconsin. Austin rebounded to post an 18-1 technical fall win over Collin Twigg of Grand Valley State in the consolation semifinals.

• Smith and Aure both reached the fresh/soph 141 consolation final and double forfeited to share fourth place. Aure opened with a 9-1 major decision win over Wisconsin's Felix Lettini and then downed Boede Campbell of Ohio State, 2-1. Aure then fell, 7-1 (TB-1) to Kolby McClain of Northwestern before scoring an 18-3 technical fall over Jak Keller of Grand Valley State in the consolation semifinals. Smith dropped his opening bout, 8-6, to Evan Herriman of Michigan State, and then bounced back for three consecutive wins: 4-1 over Dy'Vaire VanDyke of Michigan State; 5-0 over Ohio State's Campbell; and 13-3 over MSU's Herriman.

• Stradling posted a 4-3 win over Danny Sheen of Wisconsin and then dropped a 12-5 major decision to Brock Herman of Ohio State. Stradling came back to post a 19-5 technical fall victory over Cade Cass of Findlay to advance to the consolation final in the fresh/soph 149 division. He fell on a 4-1 decision to Collin Arch of Northern Illinois to place fourth.

• Marienfeld opened in the fresh/soph 165 division with an 8-0 major decision win over Trammel Robinson of Grand Valley State. He then fell to Alessio, 9-3, and defeated Brady Benson of Michigan State, 8-2. Marienfeld then dropped a 2-0 decision to Robinson in the consolation final.