Central Michigan University Athletics
Sunday, November 1
Bakersfield, Calif.
2 p.m. ET
Central Michigan University
17
vs
23
American University
Seth Larson recorded a technical fall, one of six CMU bonus point victories, on Sunday in a 34-9 win over Cal State Bakersfield in the Chippewa Challenge.
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
11/1/2026 9:26:00 PM | Wrestling
CMU scores bonus points in six of seven victories against Cal State Bakersfield
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – Central Michigan wrestlers scored bonus points in six of its seven victories on Sunday in downing host Cal State Bakersfield, 34-9, as the Chippewas finished 1-1 in the 6th annual Chippewa Challenge at the Roadrunners' Icardo Center.
CMU opened the event, a tribute to legendary former CMU coach Tom Borrelli, with a 23-17 loss to American, which is coached by Jason Borrelli, Tom's son.
The Eagles defeated CSU Bakersfield, 30-6, to claim the tournament crown, their first since 2024.
The Chippewas and American split the 10 matches in their dual. The difference was bonus points; the Eagles earned bonus points, including a fall and two technical falls, in four of their victories.
It was a different story against the Roadrunners.
"I think they realized that if they just lay down for people that they're not going to get what they want," CMU assistant coach Matt Stencel said of his wrestlers. "The guys responded the right way. It's that famous saying, it's not about how you start; it's about how you finish. It's going to be good to see those guys compete again next weekend (Michigan State Open) and see if we can't keep this momentum."
Jimmy Nugent (149 pounds), Luke Cochran (197) and Carter Neves (285) each went 2-0 on the day for CMU.
Nugent outscored his two opponents by a combined 17-2, earning a major against CSU Bakersfield; Cochran won by decision against American and then posted a tech. fall against CSU Bakersfield; and Neves, a sophomore wrestling for the first time as a collegian, recorded two majors.
"I think (Neves) was a little nervous going out there, which is a good thing," Stencel said. "You want guys to be nervous because that means that they care. In the first one (against American), he started to get a little tired. There were some situations that he got in in that match that maybe the old Carter would have struggled in. We flipped the script and he stayed locked in mentally and finished the match the way we wanted to.
"And then his match against Bakersfield, he just was super steady the whole match, stayed in really good position, and kept going after the guy and scored a bunch of points."
Neves' bonus-point win against the Roadrunners capped a dominant performance by the Chippewas.
"I challenged the guys," Stencel said of his message between the duals. "They left a lot of points on the board, I think, with American. They wrestled a little tight. That's kind of common when you compete for the first time and it's a new environment and we're traveling.
"I kind of challenged them that, once you score, keep trying to score, don't let off the gas. I thought we wrestled in good positions against American, and I felt like that if we kept wrestling through those positions, we'll score. And then we were looking for the bonus points."
They certainly found them, beginning with Archer Anderson (125) and Andrew Austin (133), who opened the dual with back-to-back falls to stake CMU to a 12-0 lead.
Nugent followed with a major and then Seth Larson (157), a junior who had never wrestled in a dual before Sunday, recorded a tech. fall to extend the Chippewas' lead to 21-3.
Trey Myers (184), another junior in the dual lineup for the first time in his career, pulled out a dramatic win to clinch the dual. He trailed 4-3 and then scored a takedown with 10 seconds remaining to seize a 6-4 lead. He added the riding-time point in his 7-4 win.
Against American, Larson lost on a first-period pin, and Myers on a tech. fall. That both bounced back while wrestling on a dual day for the first time was encouraging, Stencel said, as was the performance of Cole Hopkins (165), a senior who has put his time in in the program over the years and was in the lineup for the first time in his career on Sunday.
"In his first match he got in a weird position and ended up getting caught on his back and pinned," Stencel said of Larson. "I told him, 'Going into this next match, don't change too much; you looked good in your first match; you've got to have a short memory.' And he went out and executed really well (against CSU Bakersfield).
"(Myers) did awesome. He didn't want to go to overtime. He told me that after the match. He was like, 'I was going to go get that takedown' and he wrestled through the position. He didn't try to hang on and wait for overtime."
Hopkins dropped a 4-1 decision in sudden victory, but his performance was encouraging, Stencel said.
"It's a tough loss, but we like to see that he was the one in overtime that went after it and tried to get a takedown," he said. "He was really, really close to getting it. He didn't finish the way he wanted to, and it cost him the match, but we as coaches like to see him initiate that attack. Going forward that's going to pay off for him."
As fast as the Chippewas started against the Roadrunners, it was just the opposite against American.
The Eagles opened with a tech. fall and then a major decision to put CMU in a 9-0 deficit. The Chippewas rebounded with wins from Zeke Seltzer (141) and Nugent to draw to 9-6, but American won the next two bouts, one by fall, to extend its lead to 18-6.
The Chippewas won three of the final bouts, but the tech. fall at 184 clinched the dual for the Eagles.
CMU's Wyatt Ferguson (174) posted a major decision followed by wins from Cochran and Neves.
American 23, Central Michigan 17
125: JJ Peace (A) tech. fall Archer Anderson, 22-7, 6:33, AU 5, CMU 0
133: Colin Martin (A) major dec. Andrew Austin, 15-3, AU 9, CMU 0
141: Zeke Seltzer (C) dec. Blake Boyer, 7-1, AU 9, CMU 3
149: Jimmy Nugent (C) dec. Leo Maestas, 9-2, AU 9, CMU 6
157: Reagan Milheim (A) fall Seth Larson, 1:13, AU 15, CMU 6
165: Kaden Milheim (A) dec. Leo Contino, 10-3, AU 18, CMU 6
174: Wyatt Ferguson (C) major dec. Austin Craft, 10-2, AU 18, CMU 10
184: Caleb Campos (A) tech. fall Trey Myers, 17-2, 4:57, AU 23, CMU 10
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. Caleb Close, 6-3, AU 23, CMU 13
285: Carter Neves (C) major dec. Emmanuel Ulrich, 16-5, AU 23, CMU 17
Central Michigan 34, CSU Bakersfield 9
125: Archer Anderson (C) fall Gabe Ramirez, 3:20, CMU 6, CSUB 0
133: Andrew Austin (C) fall Saxton Scott, 5:30, CMU 12, CSUB 0
141: Robert Jones (B) dec. Zeke Seltzer, 5-0, CMU 12, CSUB 3
149: Jimmy Nugent (C) major dec. Hayden Zinkin, 8-0, CMU 16, CSUB 3
157: Seth Larson (C) tech. fall Jacob Ball, 17-2, 6:56, CMU 21, CSUB 3
165: Jared Remington (B) dec. Cole Hopkins, 4-1, SV, CMU 21, CSUB 6
174: Evan Manzo (B) dec. Wyatt Ferguson, 2-1, CMU 21, CSUB 9
184: Trey Meyers (C) dec. Chris Neal, 7-4, CMU 24, CSUB 9
197: Luke Cochran (C) tech. fall Jaxon Hamilton, 21-5, CMU 29, CSUB 9
285: Carter Neves (C) major dec. Caeden Olin, 10-1, CMU 34, CSUB 9
CMU opened the event, a tribute to legendary former CMU coach Tom Borrelli, with a 23-17 loss to American, which is coached by Jason Borrelli, Tom's son.
The Eagles defeated CSU Bakersfield, 30-6, to claim the tournament crown, their first since 2024.
The Chippewas and American split the 10 matches in their dual. The difference was bonus points; the Eagles earned bonus points, including a fall and two technical falls, in four of their victories.
It was a different story against the Roadrunners.
"I think they realized that if they just lay down for people that they're not going to get what they want," CMU assistant coach Matt Stencel said of his wrestlers. "The guys responded the right way. It's that famous saying, it's not about how you start; it's about how you finish. It's going to be good to see those guys compete again next weekend (Michigan State Open) and see if we can't keep this momentum."
Jimmy Nugent (149 pounds), Luke Cochran (197) and Carter Neves (285) each went 2-0 on the day for CMU.
Nugent outscored his two opponents by a combined 17-2, earning a major against CSU Bakersfield; Cochran won by decision against American and then posted a tech. fall against CSU Bakersfield; and Neves, a sophomore wrestling for the first time as a collegian, recorded two majors.
"I think (Neves) was a little nervous going out there, which is a good thing," Stencel said. "You want guys to be nervous because that means that they care. In the first one (against American), he started to get a little tired. There were some situations that he got in in that match that maybe the old Carter would have struggled in. We flipped the script and he stayed locked in mentally and finished the match the way we wanted to.
"And then his match against Bakersfield, he just was super steady the whole match, stayed in really good position, and kept going after the guy and scored a bunch of points."
Neves' bonus-point win against the Roadrunners capped a dominant performance by the Chippewas.
"I challenged the guys," Stencel said of his message between the duals. "They left a lot of points on the board, I think, with American. They wrestled a little tight. That's kind of common when you compete for the first time and it's a new environment and we're traveling.
"I kind of challenged them that, once you score, keep trying to score, don't let off the gas. I thought we wrestled in good positions against American, and I felt like that if we kept wrestling through those positions, we'll score. And then we were looking for the bonus points."
They certainly found them, beginning with Archer Anderson (125) and Andrew Austin (133), who opened the dual with back-to-back falls to stake CMU to a 12-0 lead.
Nugent followed with a major and then Seth Larson (157), a junior who had never wrestled in a dual before Sunday, recorded a tech. fall to extend the Chippewas' lead to 21-3.
Trey Myers (184), another junior in the dual lineup for the first time in his career, pulled out a dramatic win to clinch the dual. He trailed 4-3 and then scored a takedown with 10 seconds remaining to seize a 6-4 lead. He added the riding-time point in his 7-4 win.
Against American, Larson lost on a first-period pin, and Myers on a tech. fall. That both bounced back while wrestling on a dual day for the first time was encouraging, Stencel said, as was the performance of Cole Hopkins (165), a senior who has put his time in in the program over the years and was in the lineup for the first time in his career on Sunday.
"In his first match he got in a weird position and ended up getting caught on his back and pinned," Stencel said of Larson. "I told him, 'Going into this next match, don't change too much; you looked good in your first match; you've got to have a short memory.' And he went out and executed really well (against CSU Bakersfield).
"(Myers) did awesome. He didn't want to go to overtime. He told me that after the match. He was like, 'I was going to go get that takedown' and he wrestled through the position. He didn't try to hang on and wait for overtime."
Hopkins dropped a 4-1 decision in sudden victory, but his performance was encouraging, Stencel said.
"It's a tough loss, but we like to see that he was the one in overtime that went after it and tried to get a takedown," he said. "He was really, really close to getting it. He didn't finish the way he wanted to, and it cost him the match, but we as coaches like to see him initiate that attack. Going forward that's going to pay off for him."
As fast as the Chippewas started against the Roadrunners, it was just the opposite against American.
The Eagles opened with a tech. fall and then a major decision to put CMU in a 9-0 deficit. The Chippewas rebounded with wins from Zeke Seltzer (141) and Nugent to draw to 9-6, but American won the next two bouts, one by fall, to extend its lead to 18-6.
The Chippewas won three of the final bouts, but the tech. fall at 184 clinched the dual for the Eagles.
CMU's Wyatt Ferguson (174) posted a major decision followed by wins from Cochran and Neves.
American 23, Central Michigan 17
125: JJ Peace (A) tech. fall Archer Anderson, 22-7, 6:33, AU 5, CMU 0
133: Colin Martin (A) major dec. Andrew Austin, 15-3, AU 9, CMU 0
141: Zeke Seltzer (C) dec. Blake Boyer, 7-1, AU 9, CMU 3
149: Jimmy Nugent (C) dec. Leo Maestas, 9-2, AU 9, CMU 6
157: Reagan Milheim (A) fall Seth Larson, 1:13, AU 15, CMU 6
165: Kaden Milheim (A) dec. Leo Contino, 10-3, AU 18, CMU 6
174: Wyatt Ferguson (C) major dec. Austin Craft, 10-2, AU 18, CMU 10
184: Caleb Campos (A) tech. fall Trey Myers, 17-2, 4:57, AU 23, CMU 10
197: Luke Cochran (C) dec. Caleb Close, 6-3, AU 23, CMU 13
285: Carter Neves (C) major dec. Emmanuel Ulrich, 16-5, AU 23, CMU 17
Central Michigan 34, CSU Bakersfield 9
125: Archer Anderson (C) fall Gabe Ramirez, 3:20, CMU 6, CSUB 0
133: Andrew Austin (C) fall Saxton Scott, 5:30, CMU 12, CSUB 0
141: Robert Jones (B) dec. Zeke Seltzer, 5-0, CMU 12, CSUB 3
149: Jimmy Nugent (C) major dec. Hayden Zinkin, 8-0, CMU 16, CSUB 3
157: Seth Larson (C) tech. fall Jacob Ball, 17-2, 6:56, CMU 21, CSUB 3
165: Jared Remington (B) dec. Cole Hopkins, 4-1, SV, CMU 21, CSUB 6
174: Evan Manzo (B) dec. Wyatt Ferguson, 2-1, CMU 21, CSUB 9
184: Trey Meyers (C) dec. Chris Neal, 7-4, CMU 24, CSUB 9
197: Luke Cochran (C) tech. fall Jaxon Hamilton, 21-5, CMU 29, CSUB 9
285: Carter Neves (C) major dec. Caeden Olin, 10-1, CMU 34, CSUB 9
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