Cal Chapman Picks SMC
Cal Chapman of Dowagiac Union High School has signed his NJCAA Letter of Intent to wrestle for Head Coach Todd Hesson and the Roadrunners.
As a four-year varsity wrestler and team captain, Chapman earned 104 career wins for the Chieftains. He was team MVP as Dowagiac won their conference and their district. Chapman himself was named 1st Team All Conference. On the mat, he was an individual conference champion, district champion, regional champion and placed 5th in the state. He excelled in the classroom as well, earning Academic All Southwestern Michigan and Academic All State honors.
Chapman joins Logan Gilbert of Climax, Gavin VanKirk of Mason, Chaz Underwood and Mazzy Lambert of White Pigeon and Jayden Cochran of Miamisburg, Ohio, as the sixth signee in the 2025 SMC Wrestling recruiting class.
His high school coach confirmed that, "Cal is an exceptional man both on and off the mat. He exemplifies the standard of Dowagiac Wrestling as a student, an athlete and most importantly a human being. His leadership and readiness to learn and grow will be greatly missed in the Dowagiac wrestling room. Luckily, we will be able to see his continued growth in our own backyard at SMC."
Hesson added, "Cal is a talented wrestler, hard worker and is looking forward to the next level. The fact that he is from a local wrestling program is great for our community support!"
In 2024-2025, the Roadrunners again went undefeated in the MCCAA Duals Meet, earned the threepeat in the MCCAA Conference championship, defeated three nationally-ranked teams to win the Great Lakes District and qualify the maximum ten wrestlers for the national meet. SMC finished the season at #14 in the country and sophomores Colby Klinger and Nathan Andrina were honored as All-Americans.
On April 9, the college announced the construction of a new 11,195 square-foot wing of the Zollar Building that will quadruple the space available to the men's and women's wrestling teams. It will double the mat capacity for practice sessions and provide additional competition space for hosting conference and regional meets. The new facility will also include a dedicated fitness and warm-up area, coaches' offices, locker rooms and additional restrooms. On-site work has already begun, with a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for May 2025 and occupancy targeted for February 2026.