Saturday, March 8
Trenton, N.J.
11:30 a.m. ET
Central Michigan University
at
MAC Championships
CMU redshirt junior Chandler Amaker has his hand raised after winning his true-second match to earn and NCAA Championships berth.
Photo by: COPYRIGHT (c) KANKOKUJEEPHOTOGRAPHY
Wrestlers Second at MAC Championships; 5 From CMU Qualify for NCAA Championships
3/8/2025 7:44:00 PM | Wrestling
Chandler Amaker ends on a high note with dramatic true-second victory to punch his ticket to nationals
TRENTON, N.J. – Ben Bennett knew it was going to be a battle on all fronts, and it was.
Central Michigan put six wrestlers in championship matches on Saturday at the Mid-American Conference Championships at CURE Insurance Arena. All six lost and, as a result, the Chippewas – who led the team standings after the first day of the tournament on Friday – finished second behind Lock Haven.
The Bald Eagles, who had three individual champions, finished with 121.5 points to the Chippewas' 113. Edinboro (97.5) was third.
"It's not so much disappointment, but it's that those guys work so hard and we ask so much out of them," said Bennett, CMU's first-year coach, of his wrestlers. "I know it's really important to those guys and you just want to see them succeed and accomplish their goals.
"That's the hardest part is when you see them fall just short of accomplishing their goals and you know how hard they work and how much they've committed themselves."
The Chippewas were seeking their second consecutive MAC Championships title and they held a 13-point lead over Lock Haven entering Saturday's matches.
"I'm sure there was some (pressure), but I didn't feel like there was a whole lot," Bennett said. "I really try to tell our guys that what happened last year doesn't matter; every year's a new season, every week's a new week. Hopefully those things resonated with those guys, and they didn't put that added pressure on themselves."
To the good, five Chippewas qualified for the NCAA Championships, the most for a CMU team in recent memory.
Sean Spidle (133 pounds), Mason Shrader (149), Johnny Lovett (157), Chandler Amaker (165) and Alex Cramer (174) are headed to the big tournament, which is scheduled for Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in two weeks.
"I feel like you've always got to find some positives and I don't remember the last time we had five NCAA qualifiers," Bennett said. "It's been probably five or six years. It's been a while. That's a positive and now we've got to work to get some guys on the podium (at the NCAA Championships).
"We're moving in the right direction there and to me, the other positive is we only graduate two guys who wrestled for us this weekend. We've got a lot back next year and they're going to be motivated. We've got a lot to work with coming back next year so we're excited about that."
Spidle, Andrew Austin (141), Shrader, Lovett, Amaker and Cramer each lost in his respective championship match on Saturday.
Cramer and Lovett were both seeded first; Cramer lost to second-seeded Garrett Thompson of Ohio and Lovett fell to third-seed DJ McGee of George Mason.
Spidle, Austin, Shrader and Amaker were each seeded second and lost, in all four cases, to the top seed in their weight class.
"I think we just had some really tough matchups, and we weren't able to execute the things that we wanted to execute to get the results we wanted," Bennett said. "We weren't able to get to our offense in very many of those matches, we didn't ride like we needed to, we struggled on the bottom a little bit. Things didn't go our way."
Two Chippewas, Luke Cochran (197) and Bryan Caves (285), finished the tournament on a high note. Cochran took third with a 5-3 win and Caves placed fifth with a 16-1 technical fall in their respective place matches.
"Those guys are improving and they're not that far off," Bennett said. "It always feels better to end with a win rather than walking away with a loss.
"I stress that to the guys: 'I know you didn't get what you wanted, but it's important that you keep fighting, that you keep wrestling and you'll feel a heck of a lot better leaving the tournament on a high note.' They both went out there and wrestled good matches and were able to get wins."
The biggest surprise came from Amaker, a redshirt junior who, after losing in the 165-pound championship match, faced a true-second challenge from Lock Haven's Cade Dobbins.
With two NCAA Championships berths available at 165, the Amaker-Dobbins winner earned the bid.
Amaker scored a second-period reversal for the match's lone points in claiming a dramatic and emotional 2-0 victory.
"I'm incredibly proud of him," Bennett said. "Chandler loves wrestling and he works really hard and he's really committed to this team and this program. It really means a lot."
Amaker was seeded sixth in the tournament and earned his spot in the title match by winning by injury default in his Friday semifinal over second-seeded Evan Maag of George Mason, the defending champ in the weight class.
On Saturday, he gave top-seeded Enrique Munguia of Rider a run in the final before succumbing, 5-0, as Munguia scored a takedown with 3 seconds remaining.
A short time later, Amaker stepped back on the mat to face Dobbins, who won the third-place match in sudden victory.
"(Amaker's) coming off a loss, (Dobbins) is coming off a big win for third and we didn't really have a whole lot of momentum going in that round you could say," said Bennett, referring to the fact that CMU has dropped all six championship matches. "Lock Haven had a ton of momentum, and they had locked up the team title.
"Momentum's a thing. It really is. Everything's going their way, nothing's going our way, and Chandler's got to turn around and wrestle this match and he just stayed composed and figured out how to win the match. Really impressive; really impressive.
"You know what you're wrestling for, you know how big the moment is, it's to go to nationals. There's no hiding it. He just showed some poised, certainly."
Even more impressive is that Amaker is headed to the NCAA Championships for the first time after beginning the season as a backup to Tyler Swiderski.
Swiderski got the call to the front line when Swiderski was injured. Swiderski returned shortly thereafter and then was re-injured, prompting Bennett to again summon Amaker from the bullpen in early February.
"It was like, 'Alright Chandler, your back up,'" Bennett said. "He didn't know all year what was going to happen. If Ty was healthy, Ty was wrestling. But Chandler just kept working, stayed focused and whenever we needed him, he was there and he was prepared.
"I think that's a really hard thing to do, not knowing if you're going to get a chance but you still make sure you're prepared. He made sure he was ready and look what happened.
"From being not a starter to an NCAA qualifier. That's pretty cool; that's pretty cool."
Match-by-match results for CMU wrestlers:
125
Grant Stahl (1-2)
L Christopher Vargo, Edinboro, 13-2
W Ben Aranda, Cleveland State, Fall 6:50
L Tyler Hagensen, Kent State, 4-2
133
No. 2 Sean Spidle (3-1)
W Troy Gurerra, Buffalo, 16-0 TF, 4:11
W Will Betancourt, Rider, 1-0
Semifinal: W Markel Baker, Northern Illinois, 3-2
1st-place match: L No. 1 Anthony Noto, Lock Haven, 5-1
141
No. 2 Andrew Austin (2-1)
W Kaden Jett, Ohio, 7-1
Semifinal: W Anthony Ferraro, Edinboro, 12-6
1st-place match: vs. L No. 1 Wyatt Henson, Lock Haven, 23-3 TF, 7:00
149
No. 2 Mason Shrader (3-1)
W David McClelland, Clarion, 19-4 TF, 5:51
W Hayden Whidden, SIU Edwardsville, 2-0
Semifinal: W Derek Raike, Ohio, 6-4
1st-place match: L No. 1 Sammy Alvarez, Rider, 13-4 MD
157
No. 1 Johnny Lovett (3-1)
W Logan Cravatas, Ohio, 9-1 MD
W Carson Miller, Kent State, 5-2
Semifinal: W Landen Johnson, Northern Illinois, TF 18-3, 6:41
1st-place match: vs. L No. 3 DJ McGee, George Mason, 8-1, SV
165
No. 6 Chandler Amaker (4-2)
W Wesley Barnes, Clarion, 4-1
W Tate Geiser, Cleveland State, 4-2
Semifinal: W Evan Maag, George Mason, MFF
1st-place match: vs. L No. 1 Enrique Munguia, Rider, 5-0
True-second: W Cade Dobbins, Lock Haven, 2-0
174
No. 1 Alex Cramer (2-1)
W Rafael Knapp, Buffalo, 6-1
Semifinal: W Logan Messer, George Mason, 10-0
1st-place match: vs. L No. 2 Garrett Thompson, Ohio, 14-0 MD
184
No. 6 Adrien Cramer (0-2)
L Adrian Gracek, Clarion, 4-1
L Jeremy Olszko, Ohio, 7-3
197
No. 2 Luke Cochran (3-1)
W Nicholas Lodato, Edinboro, 2-1 SV-1
Semifinal: L Brock Zurawski, Rider, 7-1
W Joey Lyons, Cleveland State, 4-2
W 3rd-place match: vs. No. 5 Blake Schaffer, Kent State
285
No. 6 Bryan Caves (4-2)
W Bryson Buhk, SIUE, 11-2 MD
L Daniel Bucknavich, Cleveland State, fall 3:58
W Jacob Christensen, NIU, 4-0
W Brentan Simmerman, Kent State, TF 18-3, 7:00
L James Blackman, George Mason, 7-5
5th-place match: vs. W No. 8 Aden Roe, Edinboro, 16-1 TF 7:00
Central Michigan put six wrestlers in championship matches on Saturday at the Mid-American Conference Championships at CURE Insurance Arena. All six lost and, as a result, the Chippewas – who led the team standings after the first day of the tournament on Friday – finished second behind Lock Haven.
The Bald Eagles, who had three individual champions, finished with 121.5 points to the Chippewas' 113. Edinboro (97.5) was third.
"It's not so much disappointment, but it's that those guys work so hard and we ask so much out of them," said Bennett, CMU's first-year coach, of his wrestlers. "I know it's really important to those guys and you just want to see them succeed and accomplish their goals.
"That's the hardest part is when you see them fall just short of accomplishing their goals and you know how hard they work and how much they've committed themselves."
The Chippewas were seeking their second consecutive MAC Championships title and they held a 13-point lead over Lock Haven entering Saturday's matches.
"I'm sure there was some (pressure), but I didn't feel like there was a whole lot," Bennett said. "I really try to tell our guys that what happened last year doesn't matter; every year's a new season, every week's a new week. Hopefully those things resonated with those guys, and they didn't put that added pressure on themselves."
To the good, five Chippewas qualified for the NCAA Championships, the most for a CMU team in recent memory.
Sean Spidle (133 pounds), Mason Shrader (149), Johnny Lovett (157), Chandler Amaker (165) and Alex Cramer (174) are headed to the big tournament, which is scheduled for Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia in two weeks.
"I feel like you've always got to find some positives and I don't remember the last time we had five NCAA qualifiers," Bennett said. "It's been probably five or six years. It's been a while. That's a positive and now we've got to work to get some guys on the podium (at the NCAA Championships).
"We're moving in the right direction there and to me, the other positive is we only graduate two guys who wrestled for us this weekend. We've got a lot back next year and they're going to be motivated. We've got a lot to work with coming back next year so we're excited about that."
Spidle, Andrew Austin (141), Shrader, Lovett, Amaker and Cramer each lost in his respective championship match on Saturday.
Cramer and Lovett were both seeded first; Cramer lost to second-seeded Garrett Thompson of Ohio and Lovett fell to third-seed DJ McGee of George Mason.
Spidle, Austin, Shrader and Amaker were each seeded second and lost, in all four cases, to the top seed in their weight class.
"I think we just had some really tough matchups, and we weren't able to execute the things that we wanted to execute to get the results we wanted," Bennett said. "We weren't able to get to our offense in very many of those matches, we didn't ride like we needed to, we struggled on the bottom a little bit. Things didn't go our way."
Two Chippewas, Luke Cochran (197) and Bryan Caves (285), finished the tournament on a high note. Cochran took third with a 5-3 win and Caves placed fifth with a 16-1 technical fall in their respective place matches.
"Those guys are improving and they're not that far off," Bennett said. "It always feels better to end with a win rather than walking away with a loss.
"I stress that to the guys: 'I know you didn't get what you wanted, but it's important that you keep fighting, that you keep wrestling and you'll feel a heck of a lot better leaving the tournament on a high note.' They both went out there and wrestled good matches and were able to get wins."
The biggest surprise came from Amaker, a redshirt junior who, after losing in the 165-pound championship match, faced a true-second challenge from Lock Haven's Cade Dobbins.
With two NCAA Championships berths available at 165, the Amaker-Dobbins winner earned the bid.
Amaker scored a second-period reversal for the match's lone points in claiming a dramatic and emotional 2-0 victory.
"I'm incredibly proud of him," Bennett said. "Chandler loves wrestling and he works really hard and he's really committed to this team and this program. It really means a lot."
Amaker was seeded sixth in the tournament and earned his spot in the title match by winning by injury default in his Friday semifinal over second-seeded Evan Maag of George Mason, the defending champ in the weight class.
On Saturday, he gave top-seeded Enrique Munguia of Rider a run in the final before succumbing, 5-0, as Munguia scored a takedown with 3 seconds remaining.
A short time later, Amaker stepped back on the mat to face Dobbins, who won the third-place match in sudden victory.
"(Amaker's) coming off a loss, (Dobbins) is coming off a big win for third and we didn't really have a whole lot of momentum going in that round you could say," said Bennett, referring to the fact that CMU has dropped all six championship matches. "Lock Haven had a ton of momentum, and they had locked up the team title.
"Momentum's a thing. It really is. Everything's going their way, nothing's going our way, and Chandler's got to turn around and wrestle this match and he just stayed composed and figured out how to win the match. Really impressive; really impressive.
"You know what you're wrestling for, you know how big the moment is, it's to go to nationals. There's no hiding it. He just showed some poised, certainly."
Even more impressive is that Amaker is headed to the NCAA Championships for the first time after beginning the season as a backup to Tyler Swiderski.
Swiderski got the call to the front line when Swiderski was injured. Swiderski returned shortly thereafter and then was re-injured, prompting Bennett to again summon Amaker from the bullpen in early February.
"It was like, 'Alright Chandler, your back up,'" Bennett said. "He didn't know all year what was going to happen. If Ty was healthy, Ty was wrestling. But Chandler just kept working, stayed focused and whenever we needed him, he was there and he was prepared.
"I think that's a really hard thing to do, not knowing if you're going to get a chance but you still make sure you're prepared. He made sure he was ready and look what happened.
"From being not a starter to an NCAA qualifier. That's pretty cool; that's pretty cool."
Match-by-match results for CMU wrestlers:
125
Grant Stahl (1-2)
L Christopher Vargo, Edinboro, 13-2
W Ben Aranda, Cleveland State, Fall 6:50
L Tyler Hagensen, Kent State, 4-2
133
No. 2 Sean Spidle (3-1)
W Troy Gurerra, Buffalo, 16-0 TF, 4:11
W Will Betancourt, Rider, 1-0
Semifinal: W Markel Baker, Northern Illinois, 3-2
1st-place match: L No. 1 Anthony Noto, Lock Haven, 5-1
141
No. 2 Andrew Austin (2-1)
W Kaden Jett, Ohio, 7-1
Semifinal: W Anthony Ferraro, Edinboro, 12-6
1st-place match: vs. L No. 1 Wyatt Henson, Lock Haven, 23-3 TF, 7:00
149
No. 2 Mason Shrader (3-1)
W David McClelland, Clarion, 19-4 TF, 5:51
W Hayden Whidden, SIU Edwardsville, 2-0
Semifinal: W Derek Raike, Ohio, 6-4
1st-place match: L No. 1 Sammy Alvarez, Rider, 13-4 MD
157
No. 1 Johnny Lovett (3-1)
W Logan Cravatas, Ohio, 9-1 MD
W Carson Miller, Kent State, 5-2
Semifinal: W Landen Johnson, Northern Illinois, TF 18-3, 6:41
1st-place match: vs. L No. 3 DJ McGee, George Mason, 8-1, SV
165
No. 6 Chandler Amaker (4-2)
W Wesley Barnes, Clarion, 4-1
W Tate Geiser, Cleveland State, 4-2
Semifinal: W Evan Maag, George Mason, MFF
1st-place match: vs. L No. 1 Enrique Munguia, Rider, 5-0
True-second: W Cade Dobbins, Lock Haven, 2-0
174
No. 1 Alex Cramer (2-1)
W Rafael Knapp, Buffalo, 6-1
Semifinal: W Logan Messer, George Mason, 10-0
1st-place match: vs. L No. 2 Garrett Thompson, Ohio, 14-0 MD
184
No. 6 Adrien Cramer (0-2)
L Adrian Gracek, Clarion, 4-1
L Jeremy Olszko, Ohio, 7-3
197
No. 2 Luke Cochran (3-1)
W Nicholas Lodato, Edinboro, 2-1 SV-1
Semifinal: L Brock Zurawski, Rider, 7-1
W Joey Lyons, Cleveland State, 4-2
W 3rd-place match: vs. No. 5 Blake Schaffer, Kent State
285
No. 6 Bryan Caves (4-2)
W Bryson Buhk, SIUE, 11-2 MD
L Daniel Bucknavich, Cleveland State, fall 3:58
W Jacob Christensen, NIU, 4-0
W Brentan Simmerman, Kent State, TF 18-3, 7:00
L James Blackman, George Mason, 7-5
5th-place match: vs. W No. 8 Aden Roe, Edinboro, 16-1 TF 7:00
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