Blair Academy coaches at the Walsh Ironman (Photo/Sam Janicki)We're into the second week of November. The preseason national high school tournaments are done. The official start to the high school wrestling season -- at least practice -- in some states has already happened, while in other states it's right on the brink. With that being the case, it's time for the initial national rankings of the 2017-18 season, both in terms of teams and weight classes.
There is no change at the top of the team rankings for the start of the 2017-18 season. Champions last year wire-to-wire, Blair Academy (N.J.), will also start this season as the No. 1 team. The Buccaneers seek to win a sixth national title in seven seasons. They are anchored by a national high for any team eight wrestlers in the weight class rankngs, led by No. 3 Julian Ramirez (170). Also ranked are Trevor Mastrogiovanni (113) and Andrew Merola (160) at No. 4, Chris Cannon (126) is No. 5 in his weight class, Ryan Miller (106) and Malcolm Robinson (145) start the season at No. 7, Michael Colaiocco (120) is ranked No. 8, and Leonardo Tarantino (182) rounds it out at No. 14.
Ranked second to start the season is Wyoming Seminary (Pa.), which was able to muster a dual meet victory over Blair Academy during the course of last season. However, they finished No. 8 in the Fab50 most notably due to a sub-standard performance at the Walsh Ironman. This year's edition of the Blue Knights features six nationally ranked wrestlers, which is joint second in terms of most ranked wrestlers on a team. Super 32 runner-up Beau Bartlett (126) leads the way at No. 3 in the rankings, while No. 6 Jack Davis (138) and No. 10 Carson Manville (132) find themselves in the top ten; also ranked are No. 15 Drew Munch/Zeke Escalera (113), No. 17 Jake Hendricks (170), and No. 18 Austin Cooley (195).
Third to start the season is Buchanan (Calif.), which ended last season ranked No. 2 in the country after a season that concluded with a record-setting performance at the California state tournament. The vast majority of that squad returns, and five Bears will start the season inside the national rankings, though No. 10 Ethan Leake (126) is the highest ranked wrestler of that group. Others within the rankings are No. 11 Anthony Montalvo (182), Matthew Olguin (138) and Brett Villarreal (145) at No. 14, and No. 15 Joel Romero (160).
The newbie to the top ten is Montini Catholic (Ill.), sitting at No. 4 to start the season with four nationally ranked wrestlers. While the Broncos have finished all seven seasons of the Fab50's existence as a ranked team, their high-water mark was No. 12 in 2013, the start of a three-year stretch of top 20 finishes. The 2016-17 team finished as the No. 24 team nationally. Anchoring this team is three top five wrestlers at their weight class: No. 2 Will Lewan (152), No. 4 Real Woods (132), and No. 5 Joey Melendez (120); while No. 16 Fidel Mayora (138) is also ranked.
National champions in 2014-15, St. Paris Graham (Ohio) starts the season ranked No. 5 nationally with five nationally ranked wrestlers of their own. The Falcons have won seventeen straight state titles in Ohio's medium-school division. Four wrestlers ranked inside the top ten anchor the squad: No. 2 Mitch Moore (145), No. 5 Rocky Jordan (170), No. 6 Ryan Thomas (160), and No. 9 Jordan Crace (126); while also ranked is No. 19 J.D. Stickley (138).
Sixth nationally is Bergen Catholic (N.J.), who feature six wrestlers in the individual rankings, joint second most with Wyoming Seminary. The Crusaders have been ranked as New Jersey's top team in six consecutive seasons, and are strongly favored to make it seven in a row. Anchoring the squad are three previous Super 32 finalists: No. 3 Shane Griffith (160), No. 4 Robert Howard (113), and No. 7 Chris Foca (170); while also ranked are No. 9 Nick Kayal (106), No. 10 Josh McKenzie (220), and No. 17 Gerard Angelo (152).
Rounding out the top ten are three teams that were all ranked in the top six nationally last year -- Malvern Prep (Pa.), Lake Highland Prep (Fla.), and St. Edward (Ohio) -- and then Detroit Catholic Central (Mich.).
Anchoring the rankings are seven teams each from Pennsylvania and Ohio. The top two Keystone State teams are National Prep participants Wyoming Seminary and Malvern Prep, while the next two are District XI powers Bethlehem Catholic and Nazareth; round that group out are Kiski Area out of the WPIAL, Erie Cathedral Prep from the northwest (District 10), and Northampton also out of District XI.
Ohio teams are led by perennial anchors St. Paris Graham and St. Edward. Fellow ranked teams Brecksville and Elyria will exit the same big-school district tournament as the Eagles, who have won 19 of 21 state titles; Cincinnati LaSalle is a big-school team out of southwest Ohio; while Wadsworth and Massillon Perry are also big-school teams, but exit the all-Northeast district tournament.
It's an extremely strong year for power teams in the state of California, as six teams appear in the preseason rankings. Clovis and Selma join Buchanan as squads that exit the Central Section masters tournament, with Buchanan and Clovis perennial arch-rivals; Poway is out of San Diego, Gilroy is out of the San Joaquin section, while St. John Bosco is out of the southern section (Los Angeles metro area).
Four teams from New Jersey are ranked. Blair Academy obviously competes in the National Prep tournament; Bergen Catholic and Delbarton both compete for the Non-Public Class A title in the NJSIAA, with Howell in one of the public classification, though all three compete together in a single-class individual state tournament.
Five states have three nationally ranked teams: Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Oklahoma; in the case of Iowa and Missouri, all three ranked teams compete in the big-school classification. A pair of ranked teams are from Illinois and Indiana, while seven other states have a ranked team.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now