Right after dominating his match via technical fall against his Duke opponent in their first match of the season, redshirt sophomore Chance Lamer looked onto the mat as his brother, redshirt junior Legend Lamer, wrestled on the floor — something he hasn’t been able to do since high school.
Legend pinned his opponent only two minutes into his match, sending the crowd at Mott Athletics Center into a frenzy.
“Legend and I going back to back was super fun,” Chance said. “It’s gonna be a fun season for sure.”
The highlight of this past offseason for the Mustangs was the addition of the current No. 5 ranked 149-pounder Chance Lamer to an up-and-coming Mustang squad.
Lamer transferred to Cal Poly after two standout years at the University of Michigan, where he was one win away from an All-American award.
Since his transfer, Lamer has run out of the gates flaming hot by accumulating a 13-1 overall record, bringing home a title at the Tiger Style Invite in the 149-pound weight class, advancing as far as the quarterfinals at the Las Vegas Cliff Keen Invitational and Ken Kraft Midlands Championships, according to Cal Poly Athletics.
High school and wolverine career
Before his stint at Michigan, Lamer won four consecutive Oregon state titles across four different weight classes at Crescent Valley High in Corvallis, Oregon and was a highly touted recruit coming out of high school.
Chance’s recruitment initially came down to the University of Michigan and Cal Poly as Lamer’s final two options out of high school.
“We recruited him pretty heavily on the front end,” head wrestling coach Jon Sioredas said. “He ended up going [to Michigan,] and it was tough.”
Lamer ultimately chose Michigan, where he went on to finish with a 17-2 record across four open tournaments in the 2021-22 season and a 15-9 overall record in the 2022-23 season with a 6-3 mark in duals while missing most of the dual season due to injury.
He qualified for the 2023 NCAA Championships his redshirt freshman year after placing seventh in the Big 10 tournament at 149 pounds and made it as far as the Round of 12 in the NCAA Championship Tournament.
After being edged out by Iowa’s No. 8 ranked Max Murin, 3-2, in the round of 12 of the tournament, Chance had a lot to think about going into his redshirt sophomore year, especially after prematurely coming back from an injury.
The injury Chance sustained caused him to miss roughly four weeks and much of the dual-meet season.
He returned against Iowa and lost that match before sitting out an additional bout against Indiana. He returned against Central Michigan to close out the season but fell in that match to an unranked opponent.
“He wasn’t super happy with how Michigan coaches handled some injuries last season,” Legend Lamer said. “So we let him know we would be here for him through all of it.”
Chance already had his two older brothers with the Mustangs, current Director of Wrestling Operations and former wrestler Brawley Lamer and current 157-pounder Legend Lamer, trying to convince him to come to Cal Poly since high school. His younger brother, freshman Daschle Lamer, committed to Cal Poly in August 2022 over Michigan, which didn’t make things any easier.
“I think he felt kind of alone out there sometimes,” Legend said. “Honestly, I don’t think it took much convincing, I think deep down he wanted to [come to Cal Poly] the whole time.”
Chance entered his name into the transfer portal on May 4, 2023, and announced his transfer to Cal Poly just two days later via his Instagram page, on May 6.
Chance’s decision to transfer wasn’t an easy one to make, as he was leaving behind a top-caliber wrestling program, but it seemed inevitable that the Lamer family would be reunited one way or another.
“The coaches are really good, the wrestling environment, the team culture,” Chance said. “But I’d definitely say my brothers were the top reason why [I transferred].”
The Lamer family
Chance’s transfer to Cal Poly not only brought him to San Luis Obispo but also reunited him with his family.
Brawley and Legend had already cemented the Lamer name into Mustang lore, but they wanted to add to it with the addition of their two younger brothers.
Their bond was already strong before, but it’s since been enhanced with Chance’s transfer and Daschle’s commitment to Cal Poly.
“We do everything throughout every day together,” Legend said. “I think it’s helped us elevate our wrestling a lot and it’s fun wrestling after [Chance] because he always goes out there and lights it up.”
Entering conference play, Chance has posted a 13-1 record while Legend secured a 10-5 record. Daschle has earned a 9-4 record while taking home the 174-pound title at the Roadrunner Open in November and filled in nicely for No. 10 ranked Adam Kemp.
The level of comradery they’re getting from each other pays dividends when they step onto the mat as Sioredas has also noticed a big shift in energy with the addition of the two younger Lamer brothers.
“When you go from two to four, it doesn’t add, it multiplies,” Sioredas said. “You can see they feed off of each other’s energy when they’re training together and learning from each other.”
The youngest of the four, Daschle, has nothing but high praise for Chance and similar to him, his decision out of high school came down to Michigan and Cal Poly.
“[Chance] just has the full package. It’s really easy to see that and notice that,” Daschle said. “I really love to just pick pieces from him and ask questions.”
Chance bringing in that Big 10 experience and making everyone else around him better is a big deal for the team and brings the four closer together.
“It feels so normal and natural being with them every day that sometimes I forget how big of a deal it is that we’re all together again,” Chance said.
So far at Cal Poly
Since Chance has transferred to Cal Poly, he’s been nothing short of excellent.
So far, he’s taken home the 149-pound title at the Tiger Style Invite, made it as far as the quarterfinals at the Las Vegas Cliff Keen Invitational and the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships and is currently on a five-bout win streak.
“Chance is a star,” Sioredas said. “He’s one of the best in the world, in my opinion, and I think he’s proven that.”
Some of the more notable wrestlers in the 149-pound weight class that Lamer has defeated early in his Mustang career include No. 26 ranked Logan Gioffre of Missouri, No. 17 ranked Jordan Williams out of Oklahoma State and No. 15 ranked Nash Singleton of Oregon State.
His only loss came from Virginia Tech’s No. 3 ranked Caleb Henson in the quarterfinals at the Las Vegas Cliff Keen Invitational before medically forfeiting his consolation match.
“He just trains at a high level, honestly,” Sioredas said. “He leads by example but also understands wrestling from a technical standpoint.”
Expect the Lamers to dominate like they did that night against Duke as Mott Athletics Center will be in for a treat whenever the Lamer brothers take the mat.