Friday, January 17
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
7 p.m.
Central Michigan University
29
vs
11
Northern Illinois
A fired-up Andrew Austin celebrates after pinning NIU's Jacob Brya in the first period of the 141-pound match on Friday at McGuirk Arena.
Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography
Wrestlers Overcome Early Deficit, Roll to MAC-Opening Win Over NIU
1/17/2025 9:52:00 PM | Wrestling
Andrew Austin's pin at 141 proves pivotal as Chippewas capture final eight bouts in 29-11 victory
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Momentum plays a major role in dual meets.
No better of example of that than Friday night at Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena.
Backup Andrew Austin scored an upset pin in the third bout of the night (141 pounds) to turn things in the Chippewas' favor as they went on to post a 29-11 victory over Northern Illinois before 1,471 at Rumble & Tumble, a combination wrestling-gymnastics meet.
It was the Chippewas' Mid-American Conference opener, and it came over the defending MAC West-champion Huskies, who last season in DeKalb, Ill. handed CMU its only league dual loss of the season.
NIU is "tough in their first three weights and we knew that and we knew those were going to be big matches," first-year CMU coach Ben Bennett said after his team improved to 3-5 overall. "NIU, when we wrestle them, we always get their best shot. It's always been like that, so we knew we had to be ready for that."
NIU got a technical fall win at 125 and a pin at 133 to seize an 11-0 lead.
Austin, a redshirt sophomore, filled in for starter Kellan Aure and delivered, reversing NIU's Jacob Brya and then scoring the pin two minutes into the first period to draw the Chippewas to 11-6.
"We have some guys a little sick, some guys banged up, so we had to put some different guys in, and Andrew was one of those guys," Bennett said. "That was a big win for Andrew. That was huge. He got himself in a sticky situation and wrestled through it and ended up on the good side of it. You keep fighting, those things happen."
The win by Austin, a redshirt sophomore, was the first of eight consecutive Chippewa victories. And it came against Brya, who was the runner-up at 141 last season in the MAC Championships and is ranked No. 2 in the league this season.
"My teammate, Cam Wood, came up and goes, 'This is environment is you so go out there and do your thing,'" Austin said. "It's just the kind person I am. I love the crowd, I love all that."
Austin wrestled up to 149 last week at the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals and posted a 5-4, helping to turn the dual in favor of CMU in what eventually became a 25-7 victory over Drexel.
"Loyalty is my biggest thing," Austin said. "I bust my butt with these guys every single day and I love these guys to death and the coaches. They ask me to do something I'm going to put a smile on my face and I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities no matter what it is.
"Just getting as many points as you can and putting your team in the right direction is the most important thing. I do what I can for those guys and they do what they can for me."
CMU's Mason Shrader (149) and Johnny Lovett (157) followed with major decision victories to put CMU in front, 14-11.
Tyler Swiderski (165), Alex Cramer (174), Adrien Cramer (184), Luke Cochran (197) and Bryan Caves (285) then posted decision victories. Adrien Cramer, Cochran and Caves each won by seven points as the Chippewas won going away.
"I challenged the guys to wrestle seven minutes hard and not focus on winning the match so much, but try to dominate the match and score points and extend their leads," said Bennett, whose team welcomes Cleveland State on Sunday (2 p.m.) for another MAC dual. "It's always good to start on the right note in our conference duals. It's a good start; we've got to keep it rolling."
Central Michigan 29, Northern Illinois 11
125: No. 24 Blake West (NIU) tech. fall Kaden Chinavare, 15-0, 6:29, NIU 5, CMU 0
133: Markel Baker (NIU) fall Grant Stahl, 6:13, NIU 11, CMU 0
141: Andrew Austin (C) fall Jacob Brya, 2:00, NIU 11, CMU 6
149: No. 30 Mason Shrader (C) major dec. Collin Arch, 17-8, NIU 11, CMU 10
157: No. 18 Johnny Lovett (C) major dec. Landen Johnson, 13-5, CMU 14, NIU 11
165: Tyler Swiderski (C) dec. Brett Smith, 4-1, CMU 17, NIU 11
174: No. 10 Alex Cramer (C) dec. Tommy Bennett, 9-5, CMU 20, NIU 11
184: Adrien Cramer (C) dec. Austin Stewart, 8-1, CMU 23, NIU 11
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. Sean Carroll, 14-7, CMU 26, NIU 11
285: Bryan Caves (C) dec. Jacob Christensen, 8-1, CMU 29, NIU 11
*Rankings by FloWrestling
No better of example of that than Friday night at Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena.
Backup Andrew Austin scored an upset pin in the third bout of the night (141 pounds) to turn things in the Chippewas' favor as they went on to post a 29-11 victory over Northern Illinois before 1,471 at Rumble & Tumble, a combination wrestling-gymnastics meet.
It was the Chippewas' Mid-American Conference opener, and it came over the defending MAC West-champion Huskies, who last season in DeKalb, Ill. handed CMU its only league dual loss of the season.
NIU is "tough in their first three weights and we knew that and we knew those were going to be big matches," first-year CMU coach Ben Bennett said after his team improved to 3-5 overall. "NIU, when we wrestle them, we always get their best shot. It's always been like that, so we knew we had to be ready for that."
NIU got a technical fall win at 125 and a pin at 133 to seize an 11-0 lead.
Austin, a redshirt sophomore, filled in for starter Kellan Aure and delivered, reversing NIU's Jacob Brya and then scoring the pin two minutes into the first period to draw the Chippewas to 11-6.
"We have some guys a little sick, some guys banged up, so we had to put some different guys in, and Andrew was one of those guys," Bennett said. "That was a big win for Andrew. That was huge. He got himself in a sticky situation and wrestled through it and ended up on the good side of it. You keep fighting, those things happen."
The win by Austin, a redshirt sophomore, was the first of eight consecutive Chippewa victories. And it came against Brya, who was the runner-up at 141 last season in the MAC Championships and is ranked No. 2 in the league this season.
"My teammate, Cam Wood, came up and goes, 'This is environment is you so go out there and do your thing,'" Austin said. "It's just the kind person I am. I love the crowd, I love all that."
Austin wrestled up to 149 last week at the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals and posted a 5-4, helping to turn the dual in favor of CMU in what eventually became a 25-7 victory over Drexel.
"Loyalty is my biggest thing," Austin said. "I bust my butt with these guys every single day and I love these guys to death and the coaches. They ask me to do something I'm going to put a smile on my face and I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities no matter what it is.
"Just getting as many points as you can and putting your team in the right direction is the most important thing. I do what I can for those guys and they do what they can for me."
CMU's Mason Shrader (149) and Johnny Lovett (157) followed with major decision victories to put CMU in front, 14-11.
Tyler Swiderski (165), Alex Cramer (174), Adrien Cramer (184), Luke Cochran (197) and Bryan Caves (285) then posted decision victories. Adrien Cramer, Cochran and Caves each won by seven points as the Chippewas won going away.
"I challenged the guys to wrestle seven minutes hard and not focus on winning the match so much, but try to dominate the match and score points and extend their leads," said Bennett, whose team welcomes Cleveland State on Sunday (2 p.m.) for another MAC dual. "It's always good to start on the right note in our conference duals. It's a good start; we've got to keep it rolling."
Central Michigan 29, Northern Illinois 11
125: No. 24 Blake West (NIU) tech. fall Kaden Chinavare, 15-0, 6:29, NIU 5, CMU 0
133: Markel Baker (NIU) fall Grant Stahl, 6:13, NIU 11, CMU 0
141: Andrew Austin (C) fall Jacob Brya, 2:00, NIU 11, CMU 6
149: No. 30 Mason Shrader (C) major dec. Collin Arch, 17-8, NIU 11, CMU 10
157: No. 18 Johnny Lovett (C) major dec. Landen Johnson, 13-5, CMU 14, NIU 11
165: Tyler Swiderski (C) dec. Brett Smith, 4-1, CMU 17, NIU 11
174: No. 10 Alex Cramer (C) dec. Tommy Bennett, 9-5, CMU 20, NIU 11
184: Adrien Cramer (C) dec. Austin Stewart, 8-1, CMU 23, NIU 11
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. Sean Carroll, 14-7, CMU 26, NIU 11
285: Bryan Caves (C) dec. Jacob Christensen, 8-1, CMU 29, NIU 11
*Rankings by FloWrestling
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