Two-time state champion Richard Figueroa begins the season ranked No. 1 at 113 pounds (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)With the major preseason tournaments all but done, and official scholastic season practices either having started already or about to start, it is now time for the presentation of the preseason national high school weight class rankings. The top 20 wrestlers in each weight class are recognized, with the most elite wrestler named as the No. 1 wrestler in the country.
To start the 2019-20 season, here are the top ranked wrestlers in each weight class.
106 pounds: Mark-Anthony McGowan (Blair Academy, N.J.)
McGowan won a high school state title in Florida last year as an eighth-grader while competing for Citrus Park Christian. Subsequently, he would win a UWW Cadet freestyle national title at 45 kilograms (99 pounds) during the spring and then won a gold medal at the Cadet World Championships in that weight class during the summer.
113 pounds: Richard Figueroa (Selma, Calif.)
Figueroa is now a two-time California state champion, in as many high school seasons, finishing undefeated last season including titles at the Walsh Ironman and Doc Buchanan tournaments. During the spring, he was a UWW Cadet freestyle national champion at 51 kilograms (110 pounds).
120 pounds: Greg Diakomihalis (Hilton, N.Y.)
The Cornell verbal commit is already a four-time state champion, having amassed a record of 194-2 during those seasons. Diakomihalis is working on a streak of 150-plus consecutive wins, having not lost since his eighth-grade year. His senior season will suffer a delayed start due to a knee injury that is likely to keep him out until some point in December.
126 pounds: Robert Howard (Bergen Catholic, N.J.)
The Penn State verbal commit has advanced to the state championship match in all three years of his high school career, having cleared some rather deep weight classes in order to accomplish the feat; Howard's lone state title came during his sophomore season. However, he is a three-time Cadet World Team member at 55 kilograms (121 pounds).
132 pounds: Shayne Van Ness (Blair Academy, N.J.)
The Class of 2021 wrestler burst on to the scene last year when he won loaded weight brackets at the Super 32 Challenge, Walsh Ironman, and Beast of the East after being closed out of the lineup as a freshman. Van Ness was upended by Beau Bartlett in the National Prep final, but this fall won a pair of matches at the Who's Number One event against elite competition to earn this position.
138 pounds: Beau Bartlett (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.)
The Penn State verbal commit is a three-time National Prep champion, and has either won or been in title contention at about everything under the sun during his high school career. Bartlett is a two-time Super 32 Challenge runner-up, earning that position in the fall of 2017 and 2018.
145 pounds: Victor Voinovich (Brecksville, Ohio)
Voinovich was a Junior National freestyle finalist this summer, and was one of the few current high school wrestlers to place at the UWW Junior Nationals last spring (he finished fifth at 65 kilograms/143 pounds). He is a two-time state medalist, winning state gold as a freshman in 2018.
152 pounds: Sonny Santiago (St. John Bosco, Calif.)
The Arizona State verbal commit has been a known commodity for a long time, but found a major breakthrough in winning a state title at 152 pounds last February. A key result in that tournament was a 3-2 semifinal victory over Jace Luchau, the projected champion, who happened to win a Junior National freestyle title this past summer.
160 pounds: Keegan O'Toole (Arrowhead, Wis.)
The Missouri verbal commit is a three-time state champion with a career record of 113-5, and is on a 53-match win streak going back to the semifinals of the Cheesehead in January 2018. O'Toole was a Super 32 Challenge champion in 2018, and is a four-time Fargo freestyle All-American, including winning a Junior National freestyle title in 2018. Despite finishing just third this summer at 152 pounds, O'Toole upended 160-pound Junior National freestyle champion Padraic Gallagher in last month's Who's Number One event.
170 pounds: Alex Facundo (Davison, Mich.)
Facundo is a two-time state champion in as many high school seasons. He is also a two-time UWW Cadet Nationals champion in freestyle at 70 kilograms (154 pounds), and was a Cadet world bronze medalist in 2018; Facundo also won the Super 32 Challenge in the fall of 2018.
182 pounds: Dustin Plott (Tuttle, Okla.)
The Oklahoma State verbal commit is a three-time state finalist, and has amassed a record of 88-1 during his last two state title winning campaigns. Plott has been runner-up each of the last two years in the Junior National freestyle tournament, and also earned top three placement finishes at the UWW Junior Nationals in both 2018 and 2019. He also is a two-time Super 32 Challenge finalist, winning gold in 2018 after taking second in 2017.
195 pounds: Rocky Elam (Staley, Mo.)
The Missouri verbal commit has a record of 112-4 over the last two seasons, including a 52-1 state title-winning campaign as a junior. Elam is a three-time Fargo freestyle All-American, winning a Cadet National title in the summer of 2018 before finishing fourth this year at the Junior level; he also was a Junior National folkstyle champion this past spring and just won the Preseason Nationals last month.
220 pounds: A.J. Ferrari (Allen, Texas)
The nation's top overall wrestler in the senior class is a verbal commit to Oklahoma State. Ferrari was a state champion as a freshman and sophomore at Allen before leaving for New Jersey last season; he was champion at the Beast of the East and for a second consecutive time at the Walsh Ironman during his junior year. The 2018 Cadet world medalist returns to Allen for his senior year.
285 pounds: Nash Hutmacher (Canton, S.D.)
Hutmacher has verbally committed to play football at the University of Nebraska, a sport in which he is rated as either a three-or-four-star prospect at defensive tackle. On the wrestling mat, he is a three-time state champion amassing a 123-0 record the last three seasons; his last in-season loss came in the consolation semifinal at the state tournament of his eighth-grade year. This past offseason, he was a Junior National champion in folkstyle, while finishing third in both freestyle and Greco-Roman; during 2018, he was runner-up in folkstyle and freestyle with a third place in Greco-Roman.
Nationally ranked wrestlers by state (of high school attendance):
Pennsylvania 41
New Jersey 29
California 27
Ohio 21
Missouri 17
Illinois 15
Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma 11
Michigan 10
Georgia 9
Iowa, New York, Texas 8
Colorado 7
Indiana, Maryland 6
Wisconsin 5
Nebraska, West Virginia 4
Virginia 3
Connecticut, Kansas, Oregon, South Dakoata, Washington 2
Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee 1
Note: 35 states in all have a ranked wrestler
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