Nebraska Wrestling: Huskers Add 3x NCAA Qualifier Chance Lamer in Transfer Portal

Nebraska announced an incoming transfer for this next season at a serious weight of need — Chance Lamer has joined the Huskers from Cal Poly to replace NCAA Champion Ridge Lovett at 149 pounds for the Huskers.

A three-time NCAA qualifier, Lamer spent the first two years of his career at Michigan before transferring to Cal Poly as a sophomore — he has one year of eligibility remaining. At Michigan, Lamer went 15-2 during his redshirt year before starting as a redshirt freshman, ending the year with a 15-9 record while making it to the round of 12 at NCAAs.

At Cal Poly, Lamer went 19-7 as a sophomore, making it to the Pac 12 final and finishing in the round of 12 again at NCAAs. This past season, he went 15-4 while finishing third at Pac 12s — he went 1-2 at NCAAs.

Lamer has a solid set of wrestlers on his career hit list — 2x All-American and NCAA finalist Austin Gomez, All-American Jaden Abas of Stanford, and three wins over Jordan Williams.

Williams is a two-time NCAA qualifer, once at Oklahoma State and then at Little Rock this past season. He has now transferred to Iowa as a junior for his third school in three years — he was dismissed from the team in Stillwater after having two alcohol-related arrests in under a year. A matchup that’s sure to happen this next year in the Big Ten, Lamer is 3-1 against Williams with Williams winning the most recent meeting in the semifinal round of the Pac 12 Championships. All four of their matches have ended in decisions.

Here’s Lamer’s win over Williams in their dual matchup this season.

In high school, Lamer was a four-time state champion in Oregon with a high school record of 146-6. He made the 2018 Cadet world team in freestyle, finishing in 5th place in Croatia. He was also a two-time Fargo finalist in freestyle.

A huge pickup for Nebraska, Lamer fills in the 149-pound spot nicely for a year while incoming recruit Nikade Zinkin redshirts. Zinkin would then be the odds-on favorite to win the starting job in 2026-27 as a redshirt freshman.

A guy who has been on the cusp of earning All-American honors in his career, Lamer could get over the hump as a Husker like so many other transfers recently have — Liam Cronin found the podium as a senior after transferring from Indiana, Christian Lance transferred from the DII ranks and finished 8th as a senior, and Caleb Smith landed on the podium in both of his years as a Husker after failing to do so at Appalachian State.

With training partners like NCAA Champions Lovett (NWTC athlete now) and Antrell Taylor, NCAA finalist and Big Ten Champion Brock Hardy, and seven-time World-Teamer James Green — this may just be the environment Lamer needs to elevate his game and finish his career as an All-American.