Central Michigan University Athletics
Friday, February 13
Kent, Ohio
6 p.m.
Central Michigan University
21
at
16
Kent State
CMU's Archer Anderson posted a 15-0 technical-fall victory to open Friday's MAC dual meet at Kent State.
Photo by: Marc Kirby
Chippewa Wrestlers Down Kent State, Return Home Sunday for MAC Finale
2/13/2026 9:34:00 PM | Wrestling
Caves comes through with big victory in final match to secure win; Anderson, Shrader post bonus-point victories
KENT, Ohio – A veteran performed like a veteran.
Bryan Caves stepped on the mat with the dual meet on the line. And he delivered.
Caves, Central Michigan's heavyweight, posted a 6-0 victory over Brentan Simmerman to give the Chippewas a 21-16 Mid-American Conference dual meet victory on Friday over Kent State at the Golden Flashes M.A.C. Center.
The win lifted the Chippewas to 9-5, 3-2 MAC. They entertain George Mason (6-6, 3-3) in their final MAC dual of the season on Sunday (noon) at McGuirk Arena. Kent State is 7-8, 2-6.
The Chippewas led Friday's dual, 18-16, after nine matches. It came down to Caves, a redshirt senior, and Simmerman.
Simmerman is ranked second in the MAC, while Caves is third. Caves took a 1-0 lead in the second period when Simmerman was called for stalling, and then Caves scored an escape to open the third period and up his lead to 2-0. Caves then scored a takedown with 12 seconds remaining and earned the riding-time point.
"Bryan's been in that position a ton of times," CMU coach Ben Bennett said. "He's learned how to just not get caught up in things, to just go out and wrestle. The more you're there, the better you get at doing that.
"The biggest thing is to just be yourself out there. You know where you like to wrestle from. You know the positions you're good in. Do what you like to do out there."
Caves' victory – the third of his career in three matches with Simmerman -- brought an end to a rugged and exciting dual between the longtime league rivals.
CMU freshman Archer Anderson continued his late-season surge, opening the dual with a 15-0 technical fall victory to give the Chippewas a 5-0 lead. Anderson opened last week's win at SIUE with a pin.
"I feel like that's probably the best match he's wrestled all year, just in terms of his execution," Bennett said. "He continues to improve every time he goes out there and he's slowly learning how to clean some things up.
"He wrestles so hard all over the place. You're going to make some mistakes sometimes, but he's learning how to kind of minimize those and make some adjustments."
Anderson's win and Mason Shrader's 9-1 major decision victory at 157 proved to be the only dominant CMU wins on the night, and their bonus-point wins proved to be critical as three of Kent State's victories came with bonus points (two major decisions, one technical fall).
CMU's three other wins were one-score battles, with Nick Blackburn (141) taking a 4-1 win in sudden victory, Jimmy Nugent (149) battling to a 5-3 win, and Wyatt Ferguson (184) gutting out a 4-2 victory.
"Those guys just kept fighting," Bennett said. "The difference in those kinds of matches is who can figure out how to go get a takedown. And in all of those matches, we were the guy who figured out how to go get the takedown, and that's huge.
"That's been the difference in some of our matches in the past. It's been the other guys who figured out how to get the takedown, but you know, today, all three of those guys did a really good job and they figured out how to go score when they needed to score. That was the difference. Those guys just kept fighting, and they just kept wrestling tough."
Central Michigan 21, Kent State 16
Friday, Feb. 13, 2026
M.A.C. Center, Kent, Ohio
125: Archer Anderson (C) tech. fall Nico Calello, 15-0, 5:00, CMU 5, Kent State 0
133: Nick Molchak (K) major dec. Andrew Austin, 12-3, CMU 5, Kent State 4
141: Nick Blackburn (C) dec. Landon Duncan, 4-1, SV, CMU 8, Kent State 4
149: Jimmy Nugent (C) dec. Nathan Roth, 5-3, CMU 11, Kent State 4
157: No. 23/25 Mason Shrader (C) major dec. Reese Stephen, 9-1, CMU 15, Kent State 4
165: Chris Earnest (K) major dec. Chandler Amaker, 11-3, CMU 15, Kent State 8
174: Ethan Barr (K) tech. fall Cody Brenner, 16-1, 7:00, CMU 15, Kent State 13
184: Wyatt Ferguson (C) dec. Ronald Dimmerling, 4-2, CMU 18, Kent State 13
197: Blake Schaffer (K) dec. Luke Cochran, 8-4, CMU 18, Kent State 16
285: No. 30/UR Bryan Caves (C) dec. Brentan Simmerman, CMU 21, Kent State 16
*National rankings by InterMat/FloWrestling
Bryan Caves stepped on the mat with the dual meet on the line. And he delivered.
Caves, Central Michigan's heavyweight, posted a 6-0 victory over Brentan Simmerman to give the Chippewas a 21-16 Mid-American Conference dual meet victory on Friday over Kent State at the Golden Flashes M.A.C. Center.
The win lifted the Chippewas to 9-5, 3-2 MAC. They entertain George Mason (6-6, 3-3) in their final MAC dual of the season on Sunday (noon) at McGuirk Arena. Kent State is 7-8, 2-6.
The Chippewas led Friday's dual, 18-16, after nine matches. It came down to Caves, a redshirt senior, and Simmerman.
Simmerman is ranked second in the MAC, while Caves is third. Caves took a 1-0 lead in the second period when Simmerman was called for stalling, and then Caves scored an escape to open the third period and up his lead to 2-0. Caves then scored a takedown with 12 seconds remaining and earned the riding-time point.
"Bryan's been in that position a ton of times," CMU coach Ben Bennett said. "He's learned how to just not get caught up in things, to just go out and wrestle. The more you're there, the better you get at doing that.
"The biggest thing is to just be yourself out there. You know where you like to wrestle from. You know the positions you're good in. Do what you like to do out there."
Caves' victory – the third of his career in three matches with Simmerman -- brought an end to a rugged and exciting dual between the longtime league rivals.
CMU freshman Archer Anderson continued his late-season surge, opening the dual with a 15-0 technical fall victory to give the Chippewas a 5-0 lead. Anderson opened last week's win at SIUE with a pin.
"I feel like that's probably the best match he's wrestled all year, just in terms of his execution," Bennett said. "He continues to improve every time he goes out there and he's slowly learning how to clean some things up.
"He wrestles so hard all over the place. You're going to make some mistakes sometimes, but he's learning how to kind of minimize those and make some adjustments."
Anderson's win and Mason Shrader's 9-1 major decision victory at 157 proved to be the only dominant CMU wins on the night, and their bonus-point wins proved to be critical as three of Kent State's victories came with bonus points (two major decisions, one technical fall).
CMU's three other wins were one-score battles, with Nick Blackburn (141) taking a 4-1 win in sudden victory, Jimmy Nugent (149) battling to a 5-3 win, and Wyatt Ferguson (184) gutting out a 4-2 victory.
"Those guys just kept fighting," Bennett said. "The difference in those kinds of matches is who can figure out how to go get a takedown. And in all of those matches, we were the guy who figured out how to go get the takedown, and that's huge.
"That's been the difference in some of our matches in the past. It's been the other guys who figured out how to get the takedown, but you know, today, all three of those guys did a really good job and they figured out how to go score when they needed to score. That was the difference. Those guys just kept fighting, and they just kept wrestling tough."
Central Michigan 21, Kent State 16
Friday, Feb. 13, 2026
M.A.C. Center, Kent, Ohio
125: Archer Anderson (C) tech. fall Nico Calello, 15-0, 5:00, CMU 5, Kent State 0
133: Nick Molchak (K) major dec. Andrew Austin, 12-3, CMU 5, Kent State 4
141: Nick Blackburn (C) dec. Landon Duncan, 4-1, SV, CMU 8, Kent State 4
149: Jimmy Nugent (C) dec. Nathan Roth, 5-3, CMU 11, Kent State 4
157: No. 23/25 Mason Shrader (C) major dec. Reese Stephen, 9-1, CMU 15, Kent State 4
165: Chris Earnest (K) major dec. Chandler Amaker, 11-3, CMU 15, Kent State 8
174: Ethan Barr (K) tech. fall Cody Brenner, 16-1, 7:00, CMU 15, Kent State 13
184: Wyatt Ferguson (C) dec. Ronald Dimmerling, 4-2, CMU 18, Kent State 13
197: Blake Schaffer (K) dec. Luke Cochran, 8-4, CMU 18, Kent State 16
285: No. 30/UR Bryan Caves (C) dec. Brentan Simmerman, CMU 21, Kent State 16
*National rankings by InterMat/FloWrestling
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