Central Michigan University Athletics
Sunday, February 16
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
2 p.m.
Central Michigan University
26
vs
6
SIUE
Photo by: Sydney Kline
Wrestlers Dominate SIUE in Clinching MAC West Crown
2/16/2025 4:57:00 PM | Wrestling
Chippewas win eight of 10 matches in capturing 16th MAC regular season title
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – One goal down, and they did it in a very Central Michigan wrestling-like way.
The Chippewas won eight of 10 matches on Sunday in downing SIU Edwardsville, 26-6, in a Mid-American Conference dual meet at McGuirk Arena. The win, CMU's fourth straight, gave the Chippewas the MAC West crown, their 16th MAC regular season title and their third in the last four years.
The Chippewas improved to 8-9 and finished 6-1 in league duals.
CMU wrestles its in-state Big Ten rivals, Michigan State and Michigan, next weekend to close the regular season and then goes to the MAC Championships (March 7-8) and the NCAA Championships (March 20-22).
The Chippewas placed first last March in the MAC Championships after finishing second in the MAC West.
"These guys have put in a lot of work," said first-year CMU coach Ben Bennett. "There's always a list of things you want to accomplish every year, and the regular season championship is always on that list so we can check that box.
"It's not over, we've got two dual meets left and then two tournaments at the end of the year."
SIUE (7-7, 4-2) won the opening match at 125 pounds and then CMU's Sean Spidle set the tone with a 2-0 victory over Marcel Lopez at 133.
Spidle, who has won 10 consecutive matches, scored a second-period escape and then, starting on top in the third, rode Lopez for the entire two-minute period for the riding-time point.
That workmanlike effort evened the dual at 3-3 and the Chippewas went on to win seven of the final eight bouts, all but one relatively close. In each case, the CMU wrestler scored the first takedown and never trailed.
The outlier among the Chippewa wins was Alex Cramer's technical fall victory at 174.
"We were just solid, I felt like, in all three areas," Bennett said. "We wrestled good on our feet, we got a lot of the first takedowns, we wrestled tough on top and we got off bottom when we needed to get off bottom. When you wrestle well in all three phases, you're tough to beat.
"The first thing you have to do is figure out how to win a match and once you figure out how to start winning, then that's when you start thinking about bonus points – major decisions, tech falls.
"I think we've got some guys who are starting to figure out how to win matches, how to go out there and score, keep their lead, wrestle smart. Hopefully the next step for those guys is they figure out how to extend their leads and get bonus points."
Andrew Austin, a redshirt sophomore, posted a 12-6 win at 141 over sophomore Danny Martinez to give the Chippewas a 6-3 lead.
It was another chapter in what is unfolding as an amazing season for Austin, who won for the sixth straight time and for the eighth time in his last nine bouts.
Austin, unranked in the MAC, built an 8-1 lead in the first period with two takedowns and a reversal against the league's fourth-ranked wrestler. In the last month, Austin, now 17-8 on the season, has beaten the third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-ranked wrestlers in the league.
Mason Shrader (149), Johnny Lovett (157) and Chandler Amaker (165) followed with decision wins to extend CMU's lead to 15-3. In all three cases, the Chippewa wrestler recorded a first-period takedown and never trailed.
Alex Cramer's tech fall expanded the Chippewas' lead to 20-3. It was Cramer's 13th win in his last 14 bouts, and it was his team-leading 11th bonus-point win of the season.
CMU's Luke Cochran then won going away at 197, getting two third-period takedowns and an escape for a 9-3 win to clinch the victory.
The Chippewas' Bryan Caves allowed a late escape but pulled out the 2-1 victory at 285 with a riding time point. It was Caves' fourth straight win.
Lovett ran his win streak to 13 and has won 17 of his last 18 matches. It was his 127th career victory, which ties him for sixth in program history.
The Chippewas entertain Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 21 (7 p.m.) in a nonconference dual at McGuirk Arena. It is the Chippewas' Senior Night. CMU closes the regular season with a dual at No. 19 Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 23 (5 p.m.).
Central Michigan 26, SIU Edwardsville 6
125: Drew Davis (SIUE) dec. Grant Stahl, 8-3, SIUE 3, CMU 0
133: No. 26 Sean Spidle (C) dec. Marcel Lopez, 2-0, CMU 3, SIUE 3
141: Andrew Austin (C) dec. Danny Martinez, 12-6, CMU 6, SIUE 3
149: Mason Shrader (C) dec. Hayden Whidden, 5-3, CMU 9, SIUE 3
157: Johnny Lovett (C) dec. Eric Almarinez, 7-3, CMU 12, SIUE 3
165: Chandler Amaker (C) dec. Bradley Gillum, 5-3, CMU 15, SIUE 3
174: Alex Cramer (C) tech. fall Luke Odom, 15-0, CMU 20, SIUE 3
184: Deron Pullim (SIUE) dec. Adrien Cramer, 4-1 SV, CMU 20, SIUE 6
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. Nick Nosler, 9-3, CMU 23, SIUE 6
285: Bryan Caves (C) dec. Bryson Buhk, 2-1, CMU 26, SIUE 6
*Rankings by FloWrestling
The Chippewas won eight of 10 matches on Sunday in downing SIU Edwardsville, 26-6, in a Mid-American Conference dual meet at McGuirk Arena. The win, CMU's fourth straight, gave the Chippewas the MAC West crown, their 16th MAC regular season title and their third in the last four years.
The Chippewas improved to 8-9 and finished 6-1 in league duals.
CMU wrestles its in-state Big Ten rivals, Michigan State and Michigan, next weekend to close the regular season and then goes to the MAC Championships (March 7-8) and the NCAA Championships (March 20-22).
The Chippewas placed first last March in the MAC Championships after finishing second in the MAC West.
"These guys have put in a lot of work," said first-year CMU coach Ben Bennett. "There's always a list of things you want to accomplish every year, and the regular season championship is always on that list so we can check that box.
"It's not over, we've got two dual meets left and then two tournaments at the end of the year."
SIUE (7-7, 4-2) won the opening match at 125 pounds and then CMU's Sean Spidle set the tone with a 2-0 victory over Marcel Lopez at 133.
Spidle, who has won 10 consecutive matches, scored a second-period escape and then, starting on top in the third, rode Lopez for the entire two-minute period for the riding-time point.
That workmanlike effort evened the dual at 3-3 and the Chippewas went on to win seven of the final eight bouts, all but one relatively close. In each case, the CMU wrestler scored the first takedown and never trailed.
The outlier among the Chippewa wins was Alex Cramer's technical fall victory at 174.
"We were just solid, I felt like, in all three areas," Bennett said. "We wrestled good on our feet, we got a lot of the first takedowns, we wrestled tough on top and we got off bottom when we needed to get off bottom. When you wrestle well in all three phases, you're tough to beat.
"The first thing you have to do is figure out how to win a match and once you figure out how to start winning, then that's when you start thinking about bonus points – major decisions, tech falls.
"I think we've got some guys who are starting to figure out how to win matches, how to go out there and score, keep their lead, wrestle smart. Hopefully the next step for those guys is they figure out how to extend their leads and get bonus points."
Andrew Austin, a redshirt sophomore, posted a 12-6 win at 141 over sophomore Danny Martinez to give the Chippewas a 6-3 lead.
It was another chapter in what is unfolding as an amazing season for Austin, who won for the sixth straight time and for the eighth time in his last nine bouts.
Austin, unranked in the MAC, built an 8-1 lead in the first period with two takedowns and a reversal against the league's fourth-ranked wrestler. In the last month, Austin, now 17-8 on the season, has beaten the third-, fourth-, fifth- and sixth-ranked wrestlers in the league.
Mason Shrader (149), Johnny Lovett (157) and Chandler Amaker (165) followed with decision wins to extend CMU's lead to 15-3. In all three cases, the Chippewa wrestler recorded a first-period takedown and never trailed.
Alex Cramer's tech fall expanded the Chippewas' lead to 20-3. It was Cramer's 13th win in his last 14 bouts, and it was his team-leading 11th bonus-point win of the season.
CMU's Luke Cochran then won going away at 197, getting two third-period takedowns and an escape for a 9-3 win to clinch the victory.
The Chippewas' Bryan Caves allowed a late escape but pulled out the 2-1 victory at 285 with a riding time point. It was Caves' fourth straight win.
Lovett ran his win streak to 13 and has won 17 of his last 18 matches. It was his 127th career victory, which ties him for sixth in program history.
The Chippewas entertain Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 21 (7 p.m.) in a nonconference dual at McGuirk Arena. It is the Chippewas' Senior Night. CMU closes the regular season with a dual at No. 19 Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 23 (5 p.m.).
Central Michigan 26, SIU Edwardsville 6
125: Drew Davis (SIUE) dec. Grant Stahl, 8-3, SIUE 3, CMU 0
133: No. 26 Sean Spidle (C) dec. Marcel Lopez, 2-0, CMU 3, SIUE 3
141: Andrew Austin (C) dec. Danny Martinez, 12-6, CMU 6, SIUE 3
149: Mason Shrader (C) dec. Hayden Whidden, 5-3, CMU 9, SIUE 3
157: Johnny Lovett (C) dec. Eric Almarinez, 7-3, CMU 12, SIUE 3
165: Chandler Amaker (C) dec. Bradley Gillum, 5-3, CMU 15, SIUE 3
174: Alex Cramer (C) tech. fall Luke Odom, 15-0, CMU 20, SIUE 3
184: Deron Pullim (SIUE) dec. Adrien Cramer, 4-1 SV, CMU 20, SIUE 6
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. Nick Nosler, 9-3, CMU 23, SIUE 6
285: Bryan Caves (C) dec. Bryson Buhk, 2-1, CMU 26, SIUE 6
*Rankings by FloWrestling
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