Wrestling

Central Michigan Places Seventh at NWCA National Duals

Saturday Wrestling Results
SIU Edwardsville 36, Sacred Heart 3
CSU Bakersfield 19, SIU Edwardsville 18
Wyoming 17, Central Michigan 15
Central Michigan 25, Drexel 17
George Mason 23, CSU Bakersfield 17
Ohio 23, George Mason 17
#13 Iowa State 27, Rider 9
Bucknell 23, Rider 12
 
Recaps courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments

SIU Edwardsville Cougar Upend Sacred Heart on Final Day of National Duals
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - SIUE completed the National Duals at the UNI-Dome Saturday, collecting a 36-3 win over Sacred Heart.

Bryson Buhk earned a 2-minute, 10-second fall over Sacred Heart's Marc Berisha to finish off the match.  s

The Cougars were 1-3 as a team during the weekend. The other team scores were Little Rock 39 SIUE 6, George Mason 22 SIUE 12, and Cal State Bakersfield 9 SIUE 18.

SIUE is now 3-5 in dual matches and returns to Mid-American Conference action next Friday at Kent State.
 
George Mason Patriots Split Matches on Day Two at NWCA Dual Championship
FAIRFAX - The George Mason wrestling team split two duals on the final day of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Multi-Division Dual Meet Championships held at the UNI-Dome today in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
 
The Patriots, seeded No. 6, split the extra consolation matches today defeating Cal Bakersfield, 23-17 before dropping a match to Ohio by the same 23-17 score. George Mason finished the mid-major tournament with a 2-3 record.
 
Malachi DuVall split the matches today to finish 4-1 in the tournament. The redshirt junior improves to 12-4 overall.  
 
Tyler Kocak went undefeated in three matches. After winning two matches on the first day, the grad student defeated Ohio's Austin Starr, 8-2, today.
 
At 149 pounds Cale Roggie saw action for the first time in the tournament and swept both matches. The sophomore defeated CSU Bakersfield Steve Caday by a major decision, 16-7.
 
DJ McGee earned two technical falls today in wins over Jose Farias (CSU Bakersfield) and Logan Cravatas (Ohio). He finished the tournament with a 3-2 record and improved to 13-4 this season.
 
Senior Logan Messer (2-1) split two matches today. He earned a technical fall over Chris Neal (CSU Bakersfield) before dropping a decision to nationally ranked #7 Garrett Thompson from Ohio.
 
Dominic Hargrove (141) won both his matches today to improve to 3-1 in the two-day event.
 
The event featured more than 100 collegiate teams across six divisions, including 14 Division I men's programs, including multiple teams ranked in the NWCA's top 25 poll as well as a trio of Big 12 rivals.
 
Ohio Concludes Competition at NWCA National Duals
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The Ohio wrestling team concluded day two of the NWCA National Duals this afternoon. Ohio lost to Cal Poly 30-16 in Division I Extra Consolation Round Two but defeated George Mason 23-17 in Division I Extra Consolation Round Four. 

Redshirt senior TJ England and redshirt junior Garrett Thompson both finished 2-0 today. 

England collected Ohio's first individual win of the day through a forfeit by Cal Poly. Ohio then collected three straight wins through the 174-. 184- and 197-pound bouts. Thompson earned a 17-3 major decision over Blake Hinrichsen in the 174-pound class. Following that, redshirt freshman Jeremy Olszko claimed a 9-4 decision over Jake Honey in the 184-pound bout. Redshirt freshman Max Ray rounded out the streak with a 6-4 decision over Tyler Hodges. 

Freshman Logan Dean earned his first-weekend win in the dual against George Mason. His 9-6 decision over JB Dragovich gave Ohio the boost it needed to win. Also, redshirt Junior Bobby Gaylord earned his first weekend win with a 7-6 decision in the 165-pound bout. Redshirt senior Jordan Greer also collected his second victory by fall of the weekend. 

Ohio will be back in action on Sunday, January 19 to take on Edinboro in The Convo. The dual is set to begin at 1 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+. 
 
Central Michigan Downs Drexel, Finish 7th at National Duals
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Central Michigan won eight matches on Saturday in rolling to a 25-7 victory over Drexel in the seventh-place meet in the National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals at Northern Iowa's UNI Dome.

The Chippewas opened the day on Saturday with a 17-15 loss to Wyoming.

CMU finished 2-2 in the National Duals and takes a 2-5 dual meet record into their Mid-American Conference opener on Friday, Jan. 17 (7 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena against Northern Illinois.

Friday's event at McGuirk is CMU's Rumble & Tumble, a unique event in which the CMU wrestlers will compete simultaneously with the Chippewa gymnastics team, which entertains Bowling Green in a MAC meeting.

CMU opened the National Duals on Friday with a 20-13 loss to South Dakota State and then topped Ohio, 34-3.

South Dakota State, which finished runner-up in the tournament, is ranked 14th nationally and third in the NWCA Mid-Major Top 20. Wyoming is ranked eighth and Ohio is 13th in the mid-major poll. The Chippewas were among others receiving votes in the poll.

Sean Spidle (133 pounds) and Alex Cramer (174) both went 4-0 on the weekend to lead the Chippewas.

Spidle, who is ranked 26th nationally by FloWrestling, scored a pair of decision victories on Saturday after winning two on Friday, one by technical fall and the other a 10-3 decision over South Dakota State's  Derrick Cardinal, who is ranked 20th.

Cramer, who is ranked 21st, posted wins over a pair of top-10 wrestlers on Friday and Saturday posted two grind-it-out wins, one in overtime.

While the Chippewas rolled to a decisive win over Drexel, their dual with the Cowboys went down to the final second, literally.

The Chippewas led, 15-14, entering the final bout, the 285-pound matchup between CMU's Bryan Caves and Sam Mitchell. Mitchell pulled out a 4-3 victory in a match that went to the second tie-breaker period. Mitchell won with 1 second of riding time for a 4-3 victory.

Caves rebounded from that heartbreaker to post a dominant 6-0 win over his opponent from Drexel. The redshirt junior split a pair of matches against ranked opponents on Friday to finish 2-2 in the tournament.

Aside from a Wyoming pin at 141, every match in the CMU-Wyoming dual was relatively close, highlighted by Chippewa wins at 149 (Mason Shrader) and 184 (Adrien Cramer).

Shrader, who is ranked 31st, took a thrilling 12-9 sudden victory from No. 20 Gabe Willochell, and Adrien Cramer scored a takedown in the final 10 seconds for a 4-2 win.

Both of Adrian Cramer's Saturday wins came dramatically. He scored a 4-1 sudden victory over Drexel graduate student Guiseppi Hoose to complete a 3-1 weekend.

The Chippewas also got a boost from backup Andrew Austin in their win over Drexel.

Down 7-3 after the Dragons had won two of the first three matches, the Chippewas got a 5-4 come-from-behind victory from Austin, a redshirt sophomore who was wrestling in his first dual of the season and wrestling up two weight classes.

It turned out that Austin's win was the first of seven consecutive Chippewa victories.

The Chippewas now look to the meat of the schedule. Seven of their next 10 duals are against MAC foes as they defend their conference championship and gain momentum heading into the MAC Championships and the NCAA Championships in March.

Three of the Chippewas' dual meet losses have come to the top 25 teams (Little Rock, Oklahoma, South Dakota State), and the other two were by two points (Wyoming) and one (Indiana).

Friday's victory over Ohio was Bennett's first dual meet victory as the Chippewas' head coach. The former Chippewa great – a four-time All-American during his days on the mat in maroon and gold – took the reins from legendary coach Tom Borrelli after the 2023-24 season.