Central Michigan University Athletics
Saturday, January 11
Cedar Falls, Iowa
10 a.m. ET
Central Michigan University
15
vs
17
Wyoming
Adrien Cramer posted a pair of dramatic victories at 184 pounds on Saturday in helping CMU to a seventh-place finish in the NWCA National Duals.
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Wrestlers Down Drexel, Finish 7th at National Duals
1/11/2025 5:37:00 PM | Wrestling
Spidle, Alex Cramer complete perfect weekends; highlights aplenty as Chippewas look ahead to MAC opener
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Central Michigan won eight matches on Saturday in rolling to a 25-7 victory over Drexel in the seventh-place meet in the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals at Northern Iowa's UNI Dome.
The Chippewas opened the day on Saturday with a 17-15 loss to Wyoming.
CMU finished 2-2 in the National Duals and takes a 2-5 dual meet record into their Mid-American Conference opener on Friday, Jan. 17 (7 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena against Northern Illinois.
Friday's event at McGuirk is CMU's Rumble & Tumble, a unique event in which the CMU wrestlers will compete simultaneously with the Chippewa gymnastics team, which entertains Bowling Green in a MAC meet.
CMU opened the National Duals on Friday with a 20-13 loss to South Dakota State and then topped Ohio, 34-3.
South Dakota State, which finish runner-up in the tournament, is ranked 14th nationally and third in the NWCA Mid-Major Top 20. Wyoming is ranked eighth and Ohio is 13th in the mid-major poll. The Chippewas were among others receiving votes in the poll.
"It was good for us," first-year CMU coach Ben Bennett said. "We knew we would be able to get some good competition in and it's important to wrestle teams that are really going to challenge you and push you. That's how you make improvements. It's the reason we came here.
"We had some guys who broke through in some matches and got some good wins and we had a few guys who were right there who fell just a little bit short but they're knocking on the door.
"Hopefully all those guys gain confidence. Those who got those good wins start believing in themselves that they can compete, and those guys that are knocking on the door, hopefully they think that hey, I'm right there, I'm not that far away. Just got to get back to work and keep improving."
Sean Spidle (133 pounds) and Alex Cramer (174) both went 4-0 on the weekend to lead the Chippewas.
Spidle, who is ranked 26th nationally by FloWrestling, scored a pair of decision victories on Saturday after winning two on Friday, one by technical fall and the other a 10-3 decision over South Dakota State's Derrick Cardinal, who is ranked 20th.
Cramer, who is ranked 21st, posted wins over a pair of top-10 wrestlers on Friday and on Saturday posted two grind-it-out wins, one in overtime.
"Both those guys had a really good weekend," Bennett said. "Sean had two really good wins (Saturday); we felt like he controlled the matches.
"Alex had two tough matches. The guys he wrestled, they were strong, they were tough, they were both in good shape and those are tough guys to wrestle, to figure out how to score against that kind of style.
"Those guys pushed him, they made him wrestle, they made him earn those wins. Anytime you can come out on top of those matches, figure out how to win tough match; that's a good thing."
While the Chippewas rolled to a decisive win over Drexel, their dual with the Cowboys went down to the final second, literally.
The Chippewas led, 15-14, entering the final bout, the 285-pound matchup between CMU's Bryan Caves and Sam Mitchell. Mitchell pulled out a 4-3 victory in a match that went to the second tie-breaker period. Mitchell won with 1 second of riding time for a 4-3 victory.
Caves rebounded from that heartbreaker to post a dominant 6-0 win over his opponent from Drexel. The redshirt junior split a pair of matches against ranked opponents on Friday to finish 2-2 in the tournament.
"I think Bryan's starting to figure out how he wants to wrestle and he's starting to gain confidence in himself," Bennett said. "He's starting to believe in himself and starting to understand that he can wrestle with some good guys.
"Sometimes you're going to lose tough matches and I think our guys overall this weekend, Bryan included, did a really good job of coming back in the next match and refocusing really well and competing."
Aside from a Wyoming pin at 141, every match in the CMU-Wyoming dual was relatively close, highlighted by Chippewa wins at 149 (Mason Shrader) and at 184 (Adrien Cramer).
Shrader, who is ranked 31st, took a thrilling 12-9 sudden victory from No. 20 Gabe Willochell, and Adrien Cramer scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds for a 4-2 win.
"That was a good win for Mason," Bennett said. "That kid from Wyoming is hard to wrestle; he's real funky, he's good on top, and that kid's been having a good year. For Mason that was a big match. He wrestled really well."
Both of Adrian Cramer's Saturday wins came in dramatic fashion. He scored a 4-1 sudden victory over Drexel graduate student Guiseppi Hoose to complete a 3-1 weekend.
"(Hoose) wrestles hard and he's in good shape," Bennett said. "Adrien just kept his composure and in overtime figured out how to get to his shot and finish and that's just keeping your composure and not panicking and staying on task.
"(Adrien Cramer is) really just starting to figure some things out. He kept himself in both of those matches and kept his composure. That (Wyoming) match, he just kept wrestling and he didn't give up; he kept wrestling until the last second. There's 10 seconds left and it's easy to just throw in the towel, but he just kept wrestling and figured out how to score. It was pretty exciting."
The Chippewas also got a boost from backup Andrew Austin in their win over Drexel.
Down 7-3 after the Dragons had won two of the first three matches, the Chippewas got a 5-4 come-from-behind victory from Austin, a redshirt sophomore who was wrestling in his first dual of the season and wrestling up two weight classes.
"When I told him he was going to wrestle he had a big ol' smile on his face," Bennett said. "I told him to just be yourself and go out and wrestle and he competed.
"He's up two weight classes and figures out how to win a match. At this level that's really hard to do against anyone. It gives him confidence. Andrew's a guy who wants to help the team; he'll do whatever he can to help the team and that's what we love about Andrew."
It turned out that Austin's win was the first of seven consecutive Chippewa victories.
"That was huge, especially for momentum in the dual meet," Bennett said. "We were down two matches to one at that point and I think it got his teammates fired up, he was fired up; we're happy for him."
The Chippewas now look to the meat of the schedule. Seven of their next 10 duals are against MAC foes as they defend their conference championship and gain momentum heading into the MAC Championships and the NCAA Championships in March.
Three of the Chippewas' dual meet losses have come to top-25 teams (Little Rock, Oklahoma, South Dakota State) and the other two were by two points (Wyoming) and one (Indiana).
Friday's victory over Ohio was Bennett's first dual meet victory as the Chippewas' head coach. The former Chippewa great – a four-time All-American during his days on the mat in maroon and gold – took the reins from legendary coach Tom Borrelli after the 2023-24 season.
"Any time you can win a dual it feels good," Bennett said. "The guys wrestled well, that's what I'm most proud of. We were able to get a couple dual victories and we were right there in other two (this weekend). More pleased with that than me getting a win or anything like that."
Wyoming 17, Central Michigan 15
125: Garrett Ricks (W) dec. Grant Stahl, 10-5, Wyo. 3, CMU 0
133: No. 26 Sean Spidle (C) dec. Stockton O'Brien, 6-1, CMU 3, Wyo. 3
141: Cole Brooks (W) fall Kellan Aure, 2:22, Wyo. 9. CMU 3
149: No. 31 Mason Shrader (C) dec. No. 20 Gabe Willochell, 12-9, SV, Wyo. 9, CMU 6
157: No. 20 Johnny Lovett (C) dec. No. 16 Jared Hill, 4-2, CMU 9, Wyo. 8^
165: Cooper Voorheis (W) dec. Tyler Swiderski, 8-1, Wyo. 11, CMU 9
174: No. 21 Alex Cramer (C) dec. Ethan Ducca, 8-5, SV, CMU 12, Wyo. 11
184: Adrien Cramer (C) dec. Quayin Short, 4-2, CMU 15, Wyo. 11
197: No. 12 Joey Novak (W) dec. Luke Cochran, 5-2, SV, CMU 15, Wyo. 14
285: Sam Mitchell (W) dec. Bryan Caves, 4-3, TB-2, Wyo. 17, CMU 15
^One team point deduction for unnecessary roughness
Central Michigan 25, Drexel 7
125: Desmond Pleasant (D) dec. Grant Stahl, 10-4, Drexel 3, CMU 0
133: No. 26 Sean Spidle (C) dec. Kyle Waterman, 6-3, CMU 3, Drexel 3
141: Jordan Soriano (D) major dec. Kellan Aure, 12-2, Drexel 7, CMU 3
149: Andrew Austin (C) dec. Dom Findora, 5-4, Drexel 7, CMU 6
157: No. 20 Johnny Lovett (C) major dec. Aboubakare Diaby, 14-4, CMU 10, Drexel 7
165: Tyler Swiderski (C) dec. Cody Walsh, 9-4, CMU 13, Drexel 7
174: No. 21 Alex Cramer (C) dec. Jasiah Queen, 2-1, CMU 16, Drexel 7
184: Adrien Cramer (C) dec. Guiseppe Hoose, 4-1, SV, CMU 19, Drexel 7
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. IB Ameer, 4-2, CMU 22, Drexel 7
285: Bryan Caves (C) dec. Dom Petracci, 6-0, CMU 25, Drexel 7
*Rankings by FloWrestling
The Chippewas opened the day on Saturday with a 17-15 loss to Wyoming.
CMU finished 2-2 in the National Duals and takes a 2-5 dual meet record into their Mid-American Conference opener on Friday, Jan. 17 (7 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena against Northern Illinois.
Friday's event at McGuirk is CMU's Rumble & Tumble, a unique event in which the CMU wrestlers will compete simultaneously with the Chippewa gymnastics team, which entertains Bowling Green in a MAC meet.
CMU opened the National Duals on Friday with a 20-13 loss to South Dakota State and then topped Ohio, 34-3.
South Dakota State, which finish runner-up in the tournament, is ranked 14th nationally and third in the NWCA Mid-Major Top 20. Wyoming is ranked eighth and Ohio is 13th in the mid-major poll. The Chippewas were among others receiving votes in the poll.
"It was good for us," first-year CMU coach Ben Bennett said. "We knew we would be able to get some good competition in and it's important to wrestle teams that are really going to challenge you and push you. That's how you make improvements. It's the reason we came here.
"We had some guys who broke through in some matches and got some good wins and we had a few guys who were right there who fell just a little bit short but they're knocking on the door.
"Hopefully all those guys gain confidence. Those who got those good wins start believing in themselves that they can compete, and those guys that are knocking on the door, hopefully they think that hey, I'm right there, I'm not that far away. Just got to get back to work and keep improving."
Sean Spidle (133 pounds) and Alex Cramer (174) both went 4-0 on the weekend to lead the Chippewas.
Spidle, who is ranked 26th nationally by FloWrestling, scored a pair of decision victories on Saturday after winning two on Friday, one by technical fall and the other a 10-3 decision over South Dakota State's Derrick Cardinal, who is ranked 20th.
Cramer, who is ranked 21st, posted wins over a pair of top-10 wrestlers on Friday and on Saturday posted two grind-it-out wins, one in overtime.
"Both those guys had a really good weekend," Bennett said. "Sean had two really good wins (Saturday); we felt like he controlled the matches.
"Alex had two tough matches. The guys he wrestled, they were strong, they were tough, they were both in good shape and those are tough guys to wrestle, to figure out how to score against that kind of style.
"Those guys pushed him, they made him wrestle, they made him earn those wins. Anytime you can come out on top of those matches, figure out how to win tough match; that's a good thing."
While the Chippewas rolled to a decisive win over Drexel, their dual with the Cowboys went down to the final second, literally.
The Chippewas led, 15-14, entering the final bout, the 285-pound matchup between CMU's Bryan Caves and Sam Mitchell. Mitchell pulled out a 4-3 victory in a match that went to the second tie-breaker period. Mitchell won with 1 second of riding time for a 4-3 victory.
Caves rebounded from that heartbreaker to post a dominant 6-0 win over his opponent from Drexel. The redshirt junior split a pair of matches against ranked opponents on Friday to finish 2-2 in the tournament.
"I think Bryan's starting to figure out how he wants to wrestle and he's starting to gain confidence in himself," Bennett said. "He's starting to believe in himself and starting to understand that he can wrestle with some good guys.
"Sometimes you're going to lose tough matches and I think our guys overall this weekend, Bryan included, did a really good job of coming back in the next match and refocusing really well and competing."
Aside from a Wyoming pin at 141, every match in the CMU-Wyoming dual was relatively close, highlighted by Chippewa wins at 149 (Mason Shrader) and at 184 (Adrien Cramer).
Shrader, who is ranked 31st, took a thrilling 12-9 sudden victory from No. 20 Gabe Willochell, and Adrien Cramer scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds for a 4-2 win.
"That was a good win for Mason," Bennett said. "That kid from Wyoming is hard to wrestle; he's real funky, he's good on top, and that kid's been having a good year. For Mason that was a big match. He wrestled really well."
Both of Adrian Cramer's Saturday wins came in dramatic fashion. He scored a 4-1 sudden victory over Drexel graduate student Guiseppi Hoose to complete a 3-1 weekend.
"(Hoose) wrestles hard and he's in good shape," Bennett said. "Adrien just kept his composure and in overtime figured out how to get to his shot and finish and that's just keeping your composure and not panicking and staying on task.
"(Adrien Cramer is) really just starting to figure some things out. He kept himself in both of those matches and kept his composure. That (Wyoming) match, he just kept wrestling and he didn't give up; he kept wrestling until the last second. There's 10 seconds left and it's easy to just throw in the towel, but he just kept wrestling and figured out how to score. It was pretty exciting."
The Chippewas also got a boost from backup Andrew Austin in their win over Drexel.
Down 7-3 after the Dragons had won two of the first three matches, the Chippewas got a 5-4 come-from-behind victory from Austin, a redshirt sophomore who was wrestling in his first dual of the season and wrestling up two weight classes.
"When I told him he was going to wrestle he had a big ol' smile on his face," Bennett said. "I told him to just be yourself and go out and wrestle and he competed.
"He's up two weight classes and figures out how to win a match. At this level that's really hard to do against anyone. It gives him confidence. Andrew's a guy who wants to help the team; he'll do whatever he can to help the team and that's what we love about Andrew."
It turned out that Austin's win was the first of seven consecutive Chippewa victories.
"That was huge, especially for momentum in the dual meet," Bennett said. "We were down two matches to one at that point and I think it got his teammates fired up, he was fired up; we're happy for him."
The Chippewas now look to the meat of the schedule. Seven of their next 10 duals are against MAC foes as they defend their conference championship and gain momentum heading into the MAC Championships and the NCAA Championships in March.
Three of the Chippewas' dual meet losses have come to top-25 teams (Little Rock, Oklahoma, South Dakota State) and the other two were by two points (Wyoming) and one (Indiana).
Friday's victory over Ohio was Bennett's first dual meet victory as the Chippewas' head coach. The former Chippewa great – a four-time All-American during his days on the mat in maroon and gold – took the reins from legendary coach Tom Borrelli after the 2023-24 season.
"Any time you can win a dual it feels good," Bennett said. "The guys wrestled well, that's what I'm most proud of. We were able to get a couple dual victories and we were right there in other two (this weekend). More pleased with that than me getting a win or anything like that."
Wyoming 17, Central Michigan 15
125: Garrett Ricks (W) dec. Grant Stahl, 10-5, Wyo. 3, CMU 0
133: No. 26 Sean Spidle (C) dec. Stockton O'Brien, 6-1, CMU 3, Wyo. 3
141: Cole Brooks (W) fall Kellan Aure, 2:22, Wyo. 9. CMU 3
149: No. 31 Mason Shrader (C) dec. No. 20 Gabe Willochell, 12-9, SV, Wyo. 9, CMU 6
157: No. 20 Johnny Lovett (C) dec. No. 16 Jared Hill, 4-2, CMU 9, Wyo. 8^
165: Cooper Voorheis (W) dec. Tyler Swiderski, 8-1, Wyo. 11, CMU 9
174: No. 21 Alex Cramer (C) dec. Ethan Ducca, 8-5, SV, CMU 12, Wyo. 11
184: Adrien Cramer (C) dec. Quayin Short, 4-2, CMU 15, Wyo. 11
197: No. 12 Joey Novak (W) dec. Luke Cochran, 5-2, SV, CMU 15, Wyo. 14
285: Sam Mitchell (W) dec. Bryan Caves, 4-3, TB-2, Wyo. 17, CMU 15
^One team point deduction for unnecessary roughness
Central Michigan 25, Drexel 7
125: Desmond Pleasant (D) dec. Grant Stahl, 10-4, Drexel 3, CMU 0
133: No. 26 Sean Spidle (C) dec. Kyle Waterman, 6-3, CMU 3, Drexel 3
141: Jordan Soriano (D) major dec. Kellan Aure, 12-2, Drexel 7, CMU 3
149: Andrew Austin (C) dec. Dom Findora, 5-4, Drexel 7, CMU 6
157: No. 20 Johnny Lovett (C) major dec. Aboubakare Diaby, 14-4, CMU 10, Drexel 7
165: Tyler Swiderski (C) dec. Cody Walsh, 9-4, CMU 13, Drexel 7
174: No. 21 Alex Cramer (C) dec. Jasiah Queen, 2-1, CMU 16, Drexel 7
184: Adrien Cramer (C) dec. Guiseppe Hoose, 4-1, SV, CMU 19, Drexel 7
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. IB Ameer, 4-2, CMU 22, Drexel 7
285: Bryan Caves (C) dec. Dom Petracci, 6-0, CMU 25, Drexel 7
*Rankings by FloWrestling
Players Mentioned
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
/ Wrestling
Wrestling vs Northern Illinois
Friday, January 17
Ben Bennett Insider - 11.15.24
Friday, November 15
Maroon and Gold Intrasquad Highlights
Monday, November 04
Wrestling Halloween Video - 10.31.24
Thursday, October 31