Central Michigan wrestling "flies the flag" on senior night
Central Michigan wrestlers hold a 1946 MAC Championship flag after their dual against Michigan State University in McGuirk Arena, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. The wrestlers hold the flag when they claim a victory against a Big Ten team. (CMLife | Alivia Cranick)
Up by 10 with two matches left, redshirt freshman Luke Cochran was locked into a battle with Michigan State's Lucas Daly. Daly, wrestling in a higher weight class, was down 3-2 with minutes left, Cochran secured an escape point and a crucial take down to take his match and the overall.
This win marks the first time Central Michigan has beaten a Big Ten opponent in five years. CMU now is 9-9 overall and 6-1 in Mid-American Conference play.
The match got started with Central Michigan’s Grant Stahl taking on Caleb Weiand, Stahl got the match in the right direction for the Chippewas as he earned a hard-fought 4-1 win to get three points for the home team.
“It just sets it sets the tone a little bit and the guys in our team love Grant," head coach Ben Bennett said. "He's been working his tail off.”
Sean Spidle took the mat for the Chippewas next as he faced off with Andy Hampton. Spidle came out of the gates hot, scoring a three-point takedown and a two-point reversal to close out the first period leading 5-0. The domination didn’t stop there however, Spidle got two escape points as well as another takedown to finish up his match 10-0 and win by a major decision.
Michigan State would get its first points of the match as Jaden Crumpler would defeat Andrew Austin 4-2 in a hard-fought match.
CMU's Mason Shrader took the mat and didn’t waste any time getting to work, as he would earn a three-point takedown and a four-point near fall to take a 7-0 lead at the end of the first. MSU's Clayton Jones would score an escape point but would give that point right back with a Shrader reversal which would earn him two points.
In the third Shrader would dominate, scoring nine points with three takedowns as he finished up with a 18-3 win.
The graduate senior, Johnny Lovett wrestled next for the last time on the mat for CMU. The explosive Lovett came out strong scoring a takedown and a near fall to balloon his score to 7-1 in the first. After an escape point and the extra riding time point, he came away with a 9-2 win.
Central Michigan and Michigan State would flip for the next five matches as the Spartans would grab the first match coming out of the break to close the gap to 15-6.
Alex Cramer would score a major decision to win back those points and gain an extra one as he put the Chippewas up by 13 with three bouts left.
Michigan State would win two of those three but with the win from Cochran, the match was put out of reach for the Spartans.
”It's gonna challenge our guys a little bit and if you can find success then that's a good thing you shift confidence of yourself,” Bennett said.
The win marks the anniversary of the last time the Central Michigan wrestling team beat a Big Ten opponent.
“Anytime you can win a dual meet, (you) should feel good about yourself,” Bennett said. "They grew up there, they know each other, and probably with some of the guys there is a little bit of a rivalry. So, to get this win means a lot for them."
The win also gave the Chippewas a chance to “fly the flag”, a new tradition that is given to Mid-American Conference teams competing against schools in higher-level conferences.
Central Michigan will conclude its regular season as it travels down to Ann Arbor to face off with the Michigan Wolverines at 5 p.m. on February 23.
