Without a doubt the nation's best in-season high school wrestling tournament, this field features twenty nationally ranked teams and 80 nationally ranked wrestlers. Included in that is an absurd nine of the nation's top 13 teams and fourteen of the top 24 in the rankings, as well as four individuals ranked number one in the country and twelve others ranked within the top three at their weight class.
From the standpoint of the team race, No. 1 Blair Academy (N.J.) is favored to repeat as team champions of the Walsh Ironman, which would mark a 14th title in 24 editiions of the tournament. They feature seven nationally ranked wrestlers, all of whom are top four seeds in the tournament, plus three other wrestlers seeded inside the top eight.
No. 5 St. Paris Graham (Ohio) has the next most top eight seeds with seven, plus another tenth seed; No. 2 Wyoming Seminary (Pa.) and No. 4 Montini Catholic (Ill.) have six top eight seeds, with the fourth-ranked Broncos also having a pair of tenth seeds. No. 8 Lake Highland Prep (Fla.), No. 24 Christian Brothers College (Mo.), and No. 44 St. John Bosco (Calif.) each have four top eight seeds; with Lake Highland Prep also having a ninth seed. Two other teams to watch are No. 7 Malvern Prep (Pa.), who has a pair of number one seeds, plus No. 9 St. Edward (Ohio) with just two top eight seeds, but another four wrestlers seeded ninth through eleventh.
The following represents a weight-by-weight breakdown based on wrestlers entered in the field as of Wednesday afternoon. The pre-seeds were released on Wednesday.
106: Six nationally ranked wrestlers anchor the field in this weight class, including the top two ranked wrestlers in the country, No. 1 Jacob Decatur (CVCA, Ohio) and No. 2 Isaac Salas (St. John Bosco, Calif.); Salas is, however, the top seed. Nationally ranked wrestlers occupy the next three seed positions -- No. 5 Richard Figueroa (Selma, Calif.), No. 7 Ryan Miller (Blair Academy, N.J.), and No. 10 Logan Agin (Lancaster, Ohio). The last of the nationally ranked wrestlers is seven seed Cooper Flynn (McDonogh, Md.), ranked No. 15 nationally.
Others to watch include two-time Junior Greco-Roman champion Brendon Garcia (Pueblo County, Colo.), Cadet freestyle All-American Dustin Norris (Cincinnati LaSalle, Ohio), and Junior freestyle All-American Tim Levine (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.).
113: Eight nationally ranked wrestlers headline this weight class, which is the most for any weight in this tournament field. Listed in seed order: No. 2 Lucas Byrd (Cincinnati LaSalle, Ohio), No. 6 Antonio Lorenzo (St. John Bosco, Calif.), No. 3 Trevor Mastrogiovanni (Blair Academy, N.J.), No. 4 Ryan Chauvin (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), No. 11 Dylan Shawver (Elyria, Ohio), No. 19 Matt Ramos (Lockport, Ill.), No. 17 Dylan Ragusin (Montini Catholic, Ill.), and No. 18 Cevion Severado (Christian Brothers College, Mo.).
Byrd was runner-up last year down at 106 pounds in this tournament, while Chauvin placed fifth, also at 106. Others to watch in this weight include a pair of state champions, Beau Bayless (Reynolds, Pa.) and Oscar Sanchez (Genoa, Ohio), along with a pair of state medalists in Giano Petrucelli (Clovis, Calif.) and Tanner Jordan (St. Paris Graham, Ohio).
120: Six nationally ranked wrestlers feature in this weight, including last year's 106-pound champion Julian Tagg (Brecksville, Ohio); the Cadet world team member in freestyle is the fourth seed in this weight class, and ranked No. 6 nationally. Those seeded above are No. 2 Joey Melendez (Montini Catholic, Ill.), No. 4 Michael Colaiocco (Blair Academy, N.J.), and No. 8 Malik Heinselman (Castle View, Colo.); Heinselman is a three-time world team member. Seeded fifth and sixth are No. 10 Christian Nunez (St. John Bosco, Calif.) and No. 16 Brendon Fenton (Elyria, Ohio).
Others to watch include three-time state/National Prep placers King Sandoval (St. Mary's Ryken, Md.) and Matthew Cardello (CVCA, Ohio), along with a trio of impact freshmen in Cadet National freestyle champion Zeke Escalera (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), Vincent Zerban (Christian Brothers College, Mo.), and Alek Martin (St. Paris Graham, Ohio).
126: An indication of how loaded this tournament is across the board, a weight with five ranked wrestlers is among the lower third in terms of the quantity of ranked wrestlers. No. 7 Beau Bartlett (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.) won this tournament last year as a freshman down at 120 pounds, but is the two seed in this weight class. Leading the field is No. 2 Jordan Decatur (CVCA, Ohio), a Cadet world team member this summer at 58 kilos. The other three ranked wrestlers in seed order are No. 9 Malik Johnson (Christian Brothers College, Mo.), No. 12 Jordan Crace (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), and No. 19 Cleveland Belton (St. John Bosco, Calif.); Johnson was the Cadet world team member in Greco-Roman at 58 kilos this summer.
Others meriting attention in the field are Junior freestyle All-American Austin Macias (Burlington Central, Ill.); Cadet freestyle All-Americans Travis Mastrogiovanni (Blair Academy, N.J.), Mick Burnett (Elyria, Ohio), and Ryan Franco (Clovis North, Calif.); NHSCA Freshman nationals champion Peyton Hall (Oak Glen, W.Va.); Super 32 placer Julian Sanchez (Genoa, Ohio); and 2015 Walsh Ironman champion Nate Keaton (Circleville, Ohio).
132: Seven nationally ranked wrestlers in this weight class are tied for second most among any single weight in the field. However, this is probably the deepest weight class in terms of quality with five of the nation's top eight wrestlers present. The group is led by No. 1 Joey Silva (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), who last year was runner-up in this tournament to Spencer Lee at 126 pounds, and is a three-time Super 32 champion. Rounding out the top five seeds are No. 3 Real Woods (Montini Catholic, Ill.), No. 7 Ryan Anderson (Bethlehem Catholic, Pa.), No. 5 Jesse Vasquez (Santiago Corona, Calif.), and No. 8 Carson Manville (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.).
Woods was champion at this tournament in 2015, and a Cadet Greco-Roman world team member in 2016; Anderson was runner-up last year at 120 pounds in this tournament, and a Super 32 champion six weeks ago at 138; Vasquez was runner-up at 113 in this tournament last year, and a Super 32 runner-up in this weight class earlier in the fall; while Manville is the top overall freshman nationally, and a Cadet National double champion this summer.
Also ranked nationally in this weight class are No. 12 Joshua Saunders (Christian Brothers College, Mo.), a Cadet National freestyle champion and two-time Super 32 placer; and No. 17 Gabe Tagg (Brecksville, Ohio), winner of this tournament last year at 113 pounds. Others to watch in an absolutely loaded weight class include returning Ironman placers Mike Madara (Blair Academy, N.J.) and Matt Kazimir (St. Edward, Ohio), state champion Matt Fields (Brunswick, Ohio), Cadet Greco-Roman champion Reece Witcraft (Broken Arrow, Okla.), and Cadet freestyle All-American Trevor Chumbley (Marmion Academy, Ill.).
138: Yet another weight class featuring seven nationally ranked wrestlers, including four ranked between fifth and ninth, as listed in seed order: No. 9 Jaden Abas (Rancho Bernardo, Calif.), No. 5 Malcolm Robinson (Blair Academy, N.J.), No. 6 Marshall Keller (Christiansburg, Va.), and No. 7 Jack Davis (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.); Robinson placed third in this tournament last year at this weight class, Abas was runner-up at the Super 32 six weeks ago, Keller has placements at the FloNationals and Super 32 since the end of last season; while Davis was a Junior freestyle All-American.
Rounding out the ranked wrestlers are No. 15 Fidel Mayora (Montini Catholic, Ill.), No. 17 Saul Ervin (Union County, Ky.), and No. 18 J.D. Stickley (St. Paris Graham, Ohio). Also to watch in this weight class include returning Ironman placers Bryce Andonian (St. Edward, Ohio) and Coltan Yapoujian (Pomona, Colo.), two-time state champions We Rachal (Chicago Washington, Ill.) and Noah Castillo (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), Cadet freestyle All-American Luka Wick (San Marino, Calif.), FloNationals placer Elan Heard (Cincinnati LaSalle, Ohio), along with state medalists Marco Regalbuto (Brecksville, Ohio) and Luke Baughman (Wadsworth, Ohio).
145: This is the third weight class in a row to feature seven nationally ranked wrestlers, and is headlined by a pair of returning tournament runners-up in No. 3 Mitch Moore (St. Paris Graham, Ohio) and No. 6 Cole Matthews (Reynolds, Pa.); Moore was also champion at this tournament in 2014, while last year's runner-up finish was a second straight for Matthews in this tournament. Seeded between those two is No. 5 Brock Hardy (Box Elder, Utah), a three-time double All-American in Fargo.
Additional nationally ranked wrestlers occupy the next four seed lines: No. 11 Quincy Monday (Carrboro, N.C.), No. 15 Kendall Coleman (Montini Catholic, Ill.), No. 18 Sam Dover (St. Edward, Ohio), and No. 20 P.J. Crane (Malvern Prep, Pa.). Others to watch include two-time state runners-up Sandro Ramirez (Wauseon, Ohio) and Ben Pasiuk (Carrollton, Ohio), NHSCA Freshman nationals champion Kai Bele (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.); state medalists Tony Mendoza (Selma, Calif.), Baylor Fernandes (Lockport, Ill.) and Michael North (Wadsworth, Ohio); Cadet freestyle All-Americans Victor Voinovich (Brecksville, Ohio) and Frankie Tal-Shahar (American Heritage, Fla.); returning Ironman placer at 106 pounds Nick Incontera (Blair Academy, N.J.); along with Jake Stiles (Montini Catholic, Ill.).
152: Two Cadet freestyle world medalists occupy the top spots in this weight class, No. 1 David Carr (Massillon Perry, Ohio) and No. 3 Will Lewan (Montini Catholic, Ill.). Carr won bronze last year at 69 kilos, and has been in the finals at this tournament the last two years, winning in 2015; while Lewan struck gold this year at 69 kilos. The next four seeds in this weight class are also nationally ranked: No. 4 Anthony Artalona (Tampa Prep, Fla.), No. 11 Joshua Kim (Santiago Corona, Calif.), No. 14 Josh Humphreys (Parkersburg South, W.Va.), and No. 15 Jake Silverstein (Hauppauge, N.Y.); Artalona was a Junior National freestyle champion this past summer, Kim finished runner-up at the Super 32 six weeks ago, while Humphreys and Silverstein both placed in that tournament.
Others to note include returning Ironman placer Jake Marsh (Marysville, Ohio), three-time state placer Jashon Hubbard (Steubenville, Ohio), two-time state placer Joey Sanchez (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), along with Cadet freestyle All-Americans Jace Luchau (Selma, Calif.) and Padraic Gallagher (St. Edward, Ohio).
160: Just five nationally ranked wrestlers in this weight class, a group led by returning runner-up Andrew Merola (Blair Academy, N.J.) and Super 32 champion Ryan Thomas (St. Paris Graham, Ohio); the pair met in last year's semifinal, a match that now No. 3 Merola beat now No. 9 Thomas in by a score of 2-1 in the tiebreaker. The other three ranked wrestlers, listed in seed order: No. 12 Erich Byelick (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.), No. 17 Jake Hendricks (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), and No. 19 Kevon Freeman (Lake Catholic, Ohio); Byelick is a returning tournament placer and two-time Super 32 placer, Hendricks a Cadet world team member in Greco-Roman, and Freeman a two-time state champion.
Others to watch in this weight class include two-time state medalists Caleb Wise (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Noah Blake (Del Oro, Calif.). This marks one of the least deep weight classes of the tournament, outside of the obvious at 220 and 285.
170: Back to normal programming here at the nation's best regular season high school tournament, a weight class that features seven nationally ranked wrestlers, led by those ranked fourth through seventh in the country: Julian Ramirez (Blair Academy, N.J.), Emille Shannon (Christian Brothers College, Mo.), Rocky Jordan (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), and Emil Soehnlen (Massillon Perry, Ohio). Ramirez and Jordan have each placed twice at this tournament, Shannon was a Super 32 runner-up in the fall of 2015 to go with two state titles, while Soehnlen is a two-time Super 32 placer to go with an Ironman placement and state title from last season.
Also ranked nationally in this weight class are -- listed in seed order -- No. 17 Braeden Redlin (Allen, Texas), No. 15 Carson Kharchla (Olentangy Liberty, Ohio), and No. 18 Nate Jimenez (Marmion Academy, Ill.). Others to watch include FloNationals and Super 32 placer Grant Cuomo (Brewster, N.Y.), state champion Jacob Lagoa (Ashtabula St. John, Ohio), NHSCA freshman nationals champion Micah Ervin (Union County, Ky.), FloNationals placer Nick Giantonio (Christiansburg, Va.), along with state medalists Christian Rodriguez (Selma, Calif.) and Brady Chrisman (Medina, Ohio).
182: A pair of top four wrestlers headline the six nationally ranked wrestlers in this weight class, No. 2 Ryan Karoly (Malvern Prep, Pa.) and No. 4 A.J. Ferrari (Allen, Texas). Karoly was runner-up in this tournament last year and is a two-time National Prep champion, while Ferrari was a Cadet freestyle champion this summer and is the top overall sophomore nationally.
Junior freestyle All-Americans Leo Tarantino (Blair Academy, N.J.) and Victor Marcelli (Massillon Jackson, Ohio) are seeded fourth and fifth, and are ranked No. 12 and No. 15 nationally; the third seed is No. 9 Trevor Lawson (Olentangy Liberty, Ohio), while No. 14 Tate Samuselson (Castle View, Colo.) is seeded sixth. Others to watch include Super 32 placer Darrien Roberts (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.), state champion Gavin Potter (Broken Arrow, Okla.), and state medalist David Heath (Akron SVSM, Ohio).
195: No. 2 in the country Michael Beard (Malvern Prep, Pa.) is the tournament's top seed as a returning tournament champion. Four other nationally ranked wrestlers feature in this field: No. 5 Jared Ball (Hilliard Darby, Ohio), No. 15 (at 220) Zach Marcheselli (Broken Arrow, Okla.), No. 10 Cody Howard (St. Edward, Ohio), and No. 17 Austin Cooley (Wyoming Seminary, Pa.). Ball and Howard are returning Ironman placers; Ball was a Super 32 champion six weeks ago, while Howard was a Junior freestyle All-American this summer.
Others to watch include two-time state placer Gage Braun (St. Paris Graham, Ohio), state runner-up Jayden Woodruff (Ponderosa, Colo.), Cadet double All-American Peter Christenson (Montini Catholic, Ill.), and two-time state qualifier Michael Baker (Cincinnati LaSalle, Ohio).
220: Just three nationally ranked wrestlers feature in this weight class, led by No. 4 Braxton Amos (Parkersburg South, W.Va.), a Super 32 champion and two-time Cadet National double champion. Seeded second and third are No. 12 Ben Goldin (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.) and No. 18 Ian Edenfield (Laurel Highlands, Pa.). Others in this weight class include Junior freestyle All-American Antonio McCloud (Cincinnati Elder, Ohio), NHSCA Sophomore nationals champion Owen Trepham (Blair Academy, N.J.), and two-time state placer Johnny Shafer (St. Paris Graham, Ohio). Also present are state placers Garrett Bledsoe (Cincinnati LaSalle, Ohio) and Zach D'Anna (Brecksville, Ohio), along with state qualifiers Brayden Ray (Santiago Corona, Calif.) and David Aranda (St. John Bosco, Calif.).
285: An all-time obvious final is in the offing at this weight class, as No. 2 Seth Nevills (Clovis, Calif.) and No. 3 Cohlton Schultz (Ponderosa, Colo.) are the lone ranked wrestlers in this weight class. Penn State commit Nevills is a three-time state champion, while Schultz is the nation's top overall junior and a Cadet world champion in Greco-Roman. Others in this weight class include returning tournament placer Jordan Earnest (Wadsworth, Ohio); two-time National Prep placer P.J. Mustipher (McDonogh, Md.), a Penn State commit along the defensive line; state placers Alec Moore-Nash (Cincinnati Elder, Ohio) and Curtis Ruff (Lake Highland Prep, Fla.); along with two-time state runner-up Louden Haga (Parkersburg South, W.Va.).
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