The NCAA All-Americans: What’s in a High School ranking?

By Rob Sherrill

With one of the most exciting NCAA Championships of recent years now in the books, it’s time for those of us who analyze the results to get to work. And some of us have been pretty busy.

After all, the NCAA champions and All-Americans were all in my high school jurisdiction years ago, when the vast majority of them set up shop near the top of WIN’s individual high school rankings.

Some, as you’ll see, did not. That happens, too.

Over half of the 78 NCAA All-Americans who were products of American high school wrestling – 43 of them – finished their high school careers ranked in the top six in their weight classes by WIN, and more than one in four finished in the top two.  Here’s a breakdown by ranking:

Past WIN                                 2013 NCAA               2013 NCAA

HS Rankings                          Champions              All-Americans

1                                                      3                                    13

2                                                      3                                    10

3                                                      0                                    4

4                                                      0                                    7

5                                                      0                                    3

6                                                      1                                    6

7                                                      0                                    4

8                                                      0                                    2

9                                                      1                                    2

10                                                      0                                    1

11                                                      0                                    1

12                                                      0                                    2

13                                                      1                                    1

14                                                      0                                    0

15                                                      1                                    3

16                                                      0                                    1

17                                                      0                                    1

18                                                      0                                    1

19                                                      0                                    0

20                                                      0                                    1

Unranked                                    0                                    15

So, while most of the wrestlers at the very top of the All-American listings held the highest rankings, there was clearly room for others to break in. That’s evident from the last line on the chart. The ranking that produced the most All-Americans? “Unranked.”

What about those 15 All-American wrestlers who were unranked as preps? Where did they finish in Des Moines?

Place                                                      Unranked

First                                                      0

Second                                                      0

Third                                                      3

Fourth                                                      1

Fifth                                                      1

Sixth                                                      2

Seventh                                    2

Eighth                                                      6

The odds get longer for the wrestlers down the list, but they’re not insurmountable, as shown here. Three of the 10 third-place finishers – NCAA bronze medalists – finished their careers unranked.

Final thought: Kyle Dake, who just made history by winning four NCAA championships at four different weight classes – without a redshirt year – finished his high school career ranked No. 9.

Also, a complete listing of where all the 2013 NCAA All-Americans ranked in past WIN high school rankings can be found in WIN’s post-NCAA issue, which will be printed April 2. To subscribe to WIN, go to https://secure.msdservices.com/winmagazine/subscribe/