INDIANAPOLIS – To wrap up the 2020-21 season, Great Midwest Athletic Conference wrestling awards for three individuals were announced on Monday afternoon following a vote by the league's coaches.
The NCAA Championship in St. Louis, Mo., came to a conclusion with eight of the 14 Great Midwest national qualifiers earning their place as Division II All-Americans.
The 2020-21 campaign was delayed for a January 1, 2021, start date while the conference championship meet was conducted in Owensboro, Ky., at Kentucky Wesleyan later that month.
2020-21 Great Midwest Wrestler of the Year
James Wimer – University of Findlay
Wimer was the second individual national champion in conference history (2019 – Nick Mason, Tiffin) as he put the finishing touches on an unblemished 14-0 season. The redshirt senior was simply dominant as he worked his way through the year and defeated Lindenwood's Ronald Gentile in the 157-pound NCAA Championship final.
Wimer earned the top ranking at his weight class shortly after claiming Great Midwest Wrestler of the Meet honors at the conference championship. With the target on his back from that point on, nothing slowed him down from reaching his ultimate goal mapped out by head coach Shawn Nelson in a year that presented plenty of unknowns.
"James did a really good job of buckling down and we put a little pressure on him to see how he would respond," said Nelson. "We just said that we needed to approach this year as if it was not going to affect us. We had to really refine things and get back to our philosophy of what we have available time wise."
Wimer was an NCAA Championship semifinalist in 2019 and rolled the dice by sitting out the 2019-20 season. That move paid dividends as Wimer was able to start his Master's education programming and will be returning next season to defend his national title.
"James is so good in all phases," he added. "He's strong, he's flexible and he's a smart wrestler. If you got the best of James, you'd better watch out. Some of the things that he does, you can't teach that."
Wimer worked his way through a very tough bracket at nationals – his opening round opponent as the top seed Colby Nips from St. Cloud State worked all the way back through the wrestlebacks for third place. He beat wrestlers from Gannon and Central Oklahoma in the quarterfinals and semis before taking down Gentile by a 7-3 decision.
2020-21 Great Midwest Freshman of the Year
Corey Gamet – Lake Erie College
Gamet emerged as by somewhat of a surprise in terms of seeding, the decisive conference champion at 125 pounds in the Great Midwest bracket, his long, wiry frame tough for opponents to counter against.
Gamet would go on to finish his rookie year and first with Lake Erie with a 7-2 record. His only losses on record were against a pair of national qualifiers, Charlie Lennox of Gannon and Ashland's All-American Christian Wellman (via injury default).
"Corey was a catalyst for our team this year," LEC head coach Jeff Breese said. "Despite a disappointing end to his own season, he was a major driver behind the confidence around the team. His belief and skill level drove guys to new levels. Corey being able to push (NCAA qualifier) Zane Johnson out of his comfort zone certainly had a big impact in the jump we saw Zane make. His presence makes us better in a lot of ways.
Going into the Super Region 3 tournament at Tiffin, Gamet was ranked ninth in his weight class by NWCA/Intermat and won five of his seven contests by at least a major decision.
In the conference tournament, he scored a major decision over Wellman and defeated top seeded Zachary Collins of Findlay.
2020-21 Great Midwest Coach of the Year
Colt Sponseller – Ashland University
As Ashland prepares for launch as a Great Midwest full member institution in 2021-22, Sponseller's Eagles showed the type of impact it could have on the league with a conference title as an associate member in January.
It was Sponseller's first year at the helm of the program as he simply led Ashland to a seventh-place team performance at nationals in St. Louis while seeing five of his grapplers stake their claim to All-American honors.
At 174 pounds, Daniel Beemer was a national championship semifinalist and at 184/197, Aidan Pasiuk earned wrestler of the week honors by the conference two times.
Sponseller also led Ashland to a runner-up team placing at the Super Region 3 tournament in Tiffin and the program was ranked as high as No. 7 throughout the season.
Ashland dominated the team standings in the conference tournament meet with 115 points as five wrestlers won their brackets.