Central Michigan University Athletics
Monday, December 30
Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Noon ET
Central Michigan University
at
Midlands Championships
CMU's Johnny Lovett has his arm raised in victory after defeating George Mason's DJ McGee in the 157-pound championship match on Monday at the Midlands Championships.
Photo by: Sam Janicki
Lovett Wins Title, Chippewas Finish 6th at Midlands
12/30/2024 8:39:00 PM | Wrestling
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – A long way to go until the Mid-American Conference Championships and the NCAA Championships.
Johnny Lovett sent an early message.
Lovett, a Central Michigan graduate student, won the 157-pound weight class on Monday to lead the Chippewas to a sixth-place finish in the 25-team Midlands Championships at NOW Arena.
Lovett completed his 4-0 run through the tournament with a 3-2 victory over DJ McGee of George Mason in the title match. The victory came in the tie-breaker with Lovett winning on riding time – a slim margin and a dramatic finish, and a huge boost for Lovett, who lost twice last season to McGee.
"Johnny just wrestled smart matches all the way through," CMU coach Ben Bennett said. "That final (match), he never panicked, just kept wrestling, and stuck to his gameplan and really did a good job keeping his composure and that really made the difference for him."
Lovett became the first Chippewa since Mason Smith (141) in 2017 to capture a title at the Midlands, one of the most prestigious regular season tournaments in any given season.
Six Chippewas placed as CMU finished with 93.5 points to tie Pittsburgh for fifth place. Stanford, which is ranked 15th nationally, won the tournament with 157 points.
CMU returns to action on Jan. 10-11 at the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
"Some of these guys, hopefully it gives them some confidence that they can wrestle against some pretty good competition," Bennett said.
CMU's Alex Cramer (174) and Tyler Swiderski (165) both placed fourth, Sean Spidle (133) was fifth, Mason Shrader (149) was seventh and Adrien Cramer (184) placed eighth.
Swiderski finished 6-2 in the tournament, coming back to place fourth after dropping his second bout of the event. It was an outstanding result for the redshirt junior who has not wrestled since suffering an injury in the season-opening Michigan State Open.
"I was really happy with Tyler," Bennett said. "He lost a couple of tough matches, but I think overall he wrestled a really good tournament especially given the fact that he hasn't really wrestled all year.
"He did a good job of keeping himself in shape and keeping himself ready to go and he didn't miss a beat. It was a good tournament for him. He needed that and he should feel good about himself."
Cramer, who was seeded third, fell in the third-place match to Myles Takats of Bucknell on a 16-2 major decision. Cramer defeated Takats, 6-4, earlier ins the tournament and his loss to Takats came after he rallied from a 10-3 deficit for a 14-13 win in the consolation semifinals.
Spidle went 5-2 in the tournament. Two of his wins came over wrestlers he had lost to earlier this season
"Spidle had a heck of a tournament too," Bennett said.
Match-by-match results for CMU wrestlers who wrestled on Monday, the second day of the two-day Midlands Championships:
133 Sean Spidle, 8-7
W Massey Odiotti Northwestern MD 12-0
W Angelo Rini Indiana Dec. 1-0
L Ryan Miller Penn Dec. 4-0
W Marcel Lopez SIU Edwardsville Dec. 3-0
W Massey Odiotti Northwestern MD 14-4
L Ben Davino Ohio State Fall 0:50
W Colton Camacho Edinboro Dec. 10-5
149 Mason Shrader, 11-6
W Kelvin Griffin Lehigh Dec. 7-0
W Jaden Pepe Harvard Dec. 9-2
L Cross Wasilewski Penn Dec. 4-1 SV
W Tommy Curran Northern Illinois MD 9-0
L Finn Solomon Pitt Dec. 7-4
W Wyatt Krejsa Purdue Dec. 12-5
157 Johnny Lovett, 11-3
W Cade Wirnsberger Bucknell MD 11-3
W JT Chance George Mason MD 17-5
W Dylan Evans Pitt Dec. 5-2
W DJ McGee George Mason Dec. 3-2 TB-2
165 Tyler Swiderski, 5-4
W Andy Troczynski Penn Dec. 9-5
L Drayden Morton Cal Baptist Dec. 2-1 TB-1
W Caden Ernd Illinois MD 11-3
W Jared Keslar Pitt Fall 5:00
W Andrew Barbosa Rutgers Dec. 10-4
W Cael Berg Harvard TF 19-3
W Evan Maag George Mason MFF
L Hunter Garvin Stanford MD 9-1
174 Mason Alessio, 10-6
W Tommy Bennett Northern Illinois Dec. 10-8
L Collin Guffey Stanford Dec. 7-3
W Riley Hackworth George Mason TF 17-2
W Alex Whitworth Harvard MD 16-2
L Myles Takats Bucknell MD 11-0
174 Alex Cramer, 10-3
W Jake Evans Northern Illinois TF 19-3
W Connor Owens Michigan Dec. 5-2
W Myles Takats Bucknell Dec. 6-4
L Lorenzo Norman Stanford Dec. 3-1
W Jackson Turley Rutgers Dec. 14-13
L Myles Takats Bucknell MD 16-2
184 Adrien Cramer, 9-8
W Matthew Walsh Harvard Dec. 4-3
L Nathan Haas Cal Baptist Dec. 10-3
W Lucas Daly Michigan State MD 10-2
W Chase Kranitz Pitt Dec. 4-3
W Sam Goin Indiana Dec. 4-3
L Maximus Hale Penn MD 12-3
L Donnell Washington Indiana Dec. 7-1
197 Luke Cochran, 8-6
W Josh LaBarbera Penn MD 18-6
L Mac Stout Pitt Dec. 15-8
L Brook Byers Stanford Dec. 8-7
285 Bryan Caves, 9-6
W Bryson Buhk SIU Edwardsville MD 8-0
W Cole Jackson Cal Poly Fall 2:31
L Logan Shephard Bucknell Dec. 9-3
L Max Vanadia Michigan State Dec. 10-3
Johnny Lovett sent an early message.
Lovett, a Central Michigan graduate student, won the 157-pound weight class on Monday to lead the Chippewas to a sixth-place finish in the 25-team Midlands Championships at NOW Arena.
Lovett completed his 4-0 run through the tournament with a 3-2 victory over DJ McGee of George Mason in the title match. The victory came in the tie-breaker with Lovett winning on riding time – a slim margin and a dramatic finish, and a huge boost for Lovett, who lost twice last season to McGee.
"Johnny just wrestled smart matches all the way through," CMU coach Ben Bennett said. "That final (match), he never panicked, just kept wrestling, and stuck to his gameplan and really did a good job keeping his composure and that really made the difference for him."
Lovett became the first Chippewa since Mason Smith (141) in 2017 to capture a title at the Midlands, one of the most prestigious regular season tournaments in any given season.
Six Chippewas placed as CMU finished with 93.5 points to tie Pittsburgh for fifth place. Stanford, which is ranked 15th nationally, won the tournament with 157 points.
CMU returns to action on Jan. 10-11 at the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.
"Some of these guys, hopefully it gives them some confidence that they can wrestle against some pretty good competition," Bennett said.
CMU's Alex Cramer (174) and Tyler Swiderski (165) both placed fourth, Sean Spidle (133) was fifth, Mason Shrader (149) was seventh and Adrien Cramer (184) placed eighth.
Swiderski finished 6-2 in the tournament, coming back to place fourth after dropping his second bout of the event. It was an outstanding result for the redshirt junior who has not wrestled since suffering an injury in the season-opening Michigan State Open.
"I was really happy with Tyler," Bennett said. "He lost a couple of tough matches, but I think overall he wrestled a really good tournament especially given the fact that he hasn't really wrestled all year.
"He did a good job of keeping himself in shape and keeping himself ready to go and he didn't miss a beat. It was a good tournament for him. He needed that and he should feel good about himself."
Cramer, who was seeded third, fell in the third-place match to Myles Takats of Bucknell on a 16-2 major decision. Cramer defeated Takats, 6-4, earlier ins the tournament and his loss to Takats came after he rallied from a 10-3 deficit for a 14-13 win in the consolation semifinals.
Spidle went 5-2 in the tournament. Two of his wins came over wrestlers he had lost to earlier this season
"Spidle had a heck of a tournament too," Bennett said.
Match-by-match results for CMU wrestlers who wrestled on Monday, the second day of the two-day Midlands Championships:
133 Sean Spidle, 8-7
W Massey Odiotti Northwestern MD 12-0
W Angelo Rini Indiana Dec. 1-0
L Ryan Miller Penn Dec. 4-0
W Marcel Lopez SIU Edwardsville Dec. 3-0
W Massey Odiotti Northwestern MD 14-4
L Ben Davino Ohio State Fall 0:50
W Colton Camacho Edinboro Dec. 10-5
149 Mason Shrader, 11-6
W Kelvin Griffin Lehigh Dec. 7-0
W Jaden Pepe Harvard Dec. 9-2
L Cross Wasilewski Penn Dec. 4-1 SV
W Tommy Curran Northern Illinois MD 9-0
L Finn Solomon Pitt Dec. 7-4
W Wyatt Krejsa Purdue Dec. 12-5
157 Johnny Lovett, 11-3
W Cade Wirnsberger Bucknell MD 11-3
W JT Chance George Mason MD 17-5
W Dylan Evans Pitt Dec. 5-2
W DJ McGee George Mason Dec. 3-2 TB-2
165 Tyler Swiderski, 5-4
W Andy Troczynski Penn Dec. 9-5
L Drayden Morton Cal Baptist Dec. 2-1 TB-1
W Caden Ernd Illinois MD 11-3
W Jared Keslar Pitt Fall 5:00
W Andrew Barbosa Rutgers Dec. 10-4
W Cael Berg Harvard TF 19-3
W Evan Maag George Mason MFF
L Hunter Garvin Stanford MD 9-1
174 Mason Alessio, 10-6
W Tommy Bennett Northern Illinois Dec. 10-8
L Collin Guffey Stanford Dec. 7-3
W Riley Hackworth George Mason TF 17-2
W Alex Whitworth Harvard MD 16-2
L Myles Takats Bucknell MD 11-0
174 Alex Cramer, 10-3
W Jake Evans Northern Illinois TF 19-3
W Connor Owens Michigan Dec. 5-2
W Myles Takats Bucknell Dec. 6-4
L Lorenzo Norman Stanford Dec. 3-1
W Jackson Turley Rutgers Dec. 14-13
L Myles Takats Bucknell MD 16-2
184 Adrien Cramer, 9-8
W Matthew Walsh Harvard Dec. 4-3
L Nathan Haas Cal Baptist Dec. 10-3
W Lucas Daly Michigan State MD 10-2
W Chase Kranitz Pitt Dec. 4-3
W Sam Goin Indiana Dec. 4-3
L Maximus Hale Penn MD 12-3
L Donnell Washington Indiana Dec. 7-1
197 Luke Cochran, 8-6
W Josh LaBarbera Penn MD 18-6
L Mac Stout Pitt Dec. 15-8
L Brook Byers Stanford Dec. 8-7
285 Bryan Caves, 9-6
W Bryson Buhk SIU Edwardsville MD 8-0
W Cole Jackson Cal Poly Fall 2:31
L Logan Shephard Bucknell Dec. 9-3
L Max Vanadia Michigan State Dec. 10-3
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