National top 25 high school wrestling rankings for every weight class (1/12/2024)
This week is perhaps the busiest weekend of the season with the number of dual events and tournaments. None bigger than Mat Scouts No. 1 vs No. 2 teams squaring off on Friday night as top-ranked Wyoming Seminary (Pennsylvania) hosts New Jersey’s Blair Academy at 7pm. It appears the match can be streamed for a fee on the NFHS Network website.
The biggest tournament of the weekend is Escape the Rock hosted by Council Rock South in Pennsylvania. Some of the firepower from last year did not return for this version but there are still eight nationally ranked teams in the building according to Mat Scouts with No. 6 Faith Christian Academy (Pennsylvania), No. 7 Malvern Prep (Pennsylvania), No. 8 St. Joesph’s Regional (New Jersey), No. 13 Lake Highland Prep (Florida), No. 26 St. Peter’s Prep (New Jersey), No. 32 Bethlehem Catholic (Pennsylvania), No. 40 Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey), and No. 48 Cincinnati La Salle (Ohio).
It should be noted that Escape the Rock is a Saturday-Sunday affair, while the other tournaments across the country take place on Friday and Saturday. Another big Pennsylvania event that will take place at Indianola University’s Kovalchik Convention Complex is the Mid-Winter Mayhem.
The Eastern States take place at SUNY Sullivan, Loch Scheldrake in New York. One of the oldest dual tournaments in the nation gets underway on Friday with the Virginia Duals at the Hampton Coliseum.
Two big events will unfold in California with the 5 Counties Invitational and the Temecula Battle for the Belt. Also out west is the Rockwell Rumble in Herriman, Utah.
Oklahoma sees No. 3 Edmond North and No. 34 Stillwater engage with each other again at the COAC Tournament just weeks after North dominated Stillwater at the Geary Invitational.
As we reach what is sort of the mid-way point of the season for some states, for others there are still two months of wrestling left, we wanted to take stock of what states are dominating the rankings and who has the most number ones.
To no one’s surprise, Pennsylvania dominated the leaderboard for the number of ranked wrestlers with 90 and have half the number one grapplers in the country.
Two freshmen lead the way for the Keystone state with number ones at 106 in Faith Christian Academy’s Joe Bachmann and 113 in Norwin’s Landon Sidun. Bo Bassett, a sophomore, sits in his familiar perch atop the 138-pound rankings. Two seniors are highlighted next with State College’s Pierson Manville (144) and West Allegheny’s Shawn Taylor (175).
The No. 1 team in the land, Wyoming Seminary, is the only team with more than one top-rated wrestler, Luke Lilledahl (126) and Jude Correa (215). Their eleven ranked competitors are also tops in the nation.
The other Blue Knights in the rankings are Shamus Regan (No. 4 at 106), Davis Motyka (No. 4 at 113), Nathan Desmond (No. 4 at 120), Matthew Botello (No. 7 at 132), Vince Bouzakis (No. 3 at 150), Anthony Evanitsky (No. 24 at 157), Joe Sealey (No. 2 at 165), Dom Federici (No. 9 at 175), and Jake Dailey (No. 14 at 190).
The only other state with more than two number one ranked wrestlers is California, which also has the second greatest number of ranked appearances with 55. Sitting in the top spot for California are Palm Desert’s Brock Mantanona (150) and heavyweight Cody Merrill (Gilroy).
Joining Mantanona in the national rankings for Palm Desert are No. 8 Andrew Barbosa (157) and two honorable mention grapplers, David Alonso (165) and Diego Costa (190). Other Gilroy guys in the rankings are No. 8 Moses Mendoza (120), No. 4 Isaiah Cortez (126), No. 14 Elijah Cortez (132), No. 15 Daniel Zepeda (150) and honorable mention Moses Mirabal (144).
California’s top team and No. 4 in the nation Poway sits with seven nationally ranked wrestlers but no number ones. Poway’s top guns are No. 14 Arseni Kikiniou (106), No. 8 Edwin Sierra (113), No. 5 Paul Kelly (138), No. 12 Laird Root (150), No. 17 Angelo Posada (175), No. 11 Robert Platt (215), and honorable mention Elias Navida at 132.
New Jersey is right on California’s heels with 48 ranked wrestlers. Their sole No. 1 hails from Blair Academy, Leo DeLuca (120). DeLuca is joined in the rankings by fellow Bucs, No. 9 Vince Anello (106), No. 5 Matty Lopes (132), No. 14 Billy DeKraker (138), No. 7 Logan Rozynski (144), No. 15 Paul Ognissanti (157), and No. 6 Carter Neves (285). Michael Batista (113) and Peter Snyder (175) are honorable mention for Blair.
Ohio’s 34 ranked wrestlers place them as the fourth state in the nation. They have no number ones and are led by No. 5 St. Edward’s seven ranked wrestlers. After honorable mention Timmy Mazur at 106, there is No. 15 Ethan Timar (113), No. 9 Karson Brown (120), No. 11 Kade Brown (138), No. 23 Ryan Bennett (144), No. 18 Tyrel Miller (175), and No. 13 Jarrel Miller (190).
Oklahoma is next with 25 wrestlers appearing in the national rankings with their count being led by Edmond North’s nine ranked wrestlers. Nort has two number four guys in Layton Schneider (144) and Kody Routledge (150), two number fifteen guys with Jake Goodin (106) and Hunter Hollingsworth (138), two number 25s – Jude Randall (165) and Talon McCollom (175). Oscar Williams is No. 12 at 215, Ricky Thomas sits at No. 11 at 285, and Joseph Jeter is honorable mention at 157.
Next up is Illinois with 23 guys in the rankings and one number one, St. Charles East’s Ben Davino (132). Davino is joined by his teammates No. 5 Dom Munaretto (113) and No. 10 Tyler Guerra (138). Wisconsin falls next in line with 17 wrestlers in the rankings. Aeoden Sinclair at 190 is No. 1 for Milton and his compadre No. 17 Tyson Peach joins him at 138.
The last two number ones hail from New York – Minisink Valley’s PJ Duke (157), who is one of just six ranked New Yorkers, and Melissa, Texas’ Angelo Ferrari (175), who is one of five Texans in the rankings.
SBLive Sports National High School Wrestling Rankings
