Where 2022 All-Americans once ranked as prep wrestlers
By Rob Sherrill
The following is a weight-by-weight run-down of where 2022 NCAA Championships in Detroit once finished in WIN’s high school rankings:
125: The top three, Suriano, Patrick Glory of Princeton and Vitali Arujau of Cornell, finished their careers No. 1, as did the fifth-place finisher, Patrick McKee of Minnesota, who made mincemeat of the consolation bracket for the second straight year. Eric Barnett (seventh) of Wisconsin finished No. 4, Brandon Courtney (sixth) of Arizona State No. 5 and Brandon Kaylor (eighth) of Oregon State No. 7. Meanwhile, Michael DeAugustino (fourth) of Northwestern was the first of our seven unranked All-Americans. DeAugustino was a three-time Florida state placewinner.
133: Second verse, same as the first. As was the case at 125, the top three, Bravo-Young, Daton Fix of Oklahoma State and Austin DeSanto of Iowa, all finished No. 1, as did Lucas Byrd (fifth) of Illinois. Another Illinois native, Michael McGee (fourth) of Arizona State, finished No. 4. But the podium at 133 also had room for double-digit finishers Korbin Myers (fourth) of Virginia Tech, who finished No. 18, Chris Cannon (seventh) of Northwestern, who achieved his highest ranking as a sophomore (No. 12), and unranked Devan Turner (eighth) of Oregon State. Turner finished fifth in the California state meet at Dixon High School as a senior in 2016.
141: Lee achieved his highest prep ranking at the beginning of his senior year – No. 3 – before completing his prep career via home schooling. In addition to Clarke, the highest-placing unranked wrestler, the wrestlers who met for seventh place, Jakob Bergeland (seventh) of Minnesota and C.J. Composto of Pennsylvania, also didn’t crack our final rankings. Composto, who didn’t place in the New Jersey state tournament as a senior, became one of just five All-Americans from the Class of 2020. The highest-ranked All-Americans, No. 2’s Cole Matthews (fifth) of Pittsburgh and Real Woods of Stanford, met for fifth place. Veteran Sebastian Rivera (third) of Rutgers matched Lee at No. 3.
149: Three-time champion Diakomihalis and Sammy Sasso (fifth) of Ohio State were the No. 1’s at this weight. Austin Gomez of Wisconsin, who made a crowd-pleasing comeback, finished No. 3, and the wrestler who beat Gomez for third place in Detroit, Bryce Andonian of Virginia Tech, was No. 6 to close his prep career. The other half of the weight class finished at double digits or below. Finalist Ridge Lovett of Nebraska finished No. 12, but that ranking was a result of electing to bump up two weight classes as a high-school senior in Idaho; he had held the No. 1 spot at times at his previous weight. Unranked Jonathan Millner (sixth) of Appalachian State, No. 13 Tariq Wilson (seventh) of North Carolina State and No. 22 Kyle Parco (eighth) of Arizona State became multi-time All-Americans despite those low rankings.
157: Both finalists, Deakin and Quincy Monday (No. 11) of Princeton, came from outside the top 10. The lowest ranked of five All-Americans at 157 from the Class of 2018, Monday finished the highest of the five in Detroit. Hunter Willits (seventh) of Oregon State just made it into the top 20, finishing No. 19. The weight’s only No. 1, two-time All-American Jacori Teemer of Arizona State, finished sixth. Former champions David Carr (third) of Iowa State and Austin O’Connor (eighth) of North Carolina finished No. 2 and No. 5, respectively. Peyton Robb (fourth) of Nebraska finished No. 3 and Will Lewan (fifth) of Michigan No. 7.
165: Youth was served at this weight class, with true freshman Hamiti and champion O’Toole headlining five All-Americans from the Class of 2019 or later. All eight All-Americans finished their prep careers in the top 10, the only weight class where that happened – six of the eight in the top two. Carson Kharchla (seventh) of Ohio State was the other No. 1 and Shane Griffith (second) of Stanford, Cameron Amine (fourth) of Michigan, Alex Marinelli (fifth) of Iowa and Hamiti, were No. 2’s. Evan Wick (third) of Cal Poly finished No. 4 and Peyton Hall (eighth) of West Virginia No. 8. Hall became the first member of his state’s heralded Class of 2020 to earn All-America honors.
174: This weight class matched 125 and 133 with four No. 1’s. Two-time champion Starocci, Michael Kemerer (fourth) of Iowa and Mikey Labriola (seventh) of Nebraska also finished No. 1, all as Pennsylvania preps; Dustin Plott (sixth) of Oklahoma State was the fourth. Hayden Hidlay (third) of North Carolina State finished No. 2 and Mekhi Lewis (second) of Virginia Tech and Logan Massa (fifth) of Michigan No. 4. But Clay Lautt (eighth) of North Carolina came from outside the top 10, at No. 14.
184: It’s not hard to guess who the lone No. 1 at this weight would be: two-time champion Brooks. The rest was a mixed bag. The wrestlers who met for fifth place, Trent Hidlay (fifth) of North Carolina State and Kaleb Romero of Ohio State, finished No. 2. Marcus Coleman (seventh) of Iowa State finished No. 6 and Parker Keckeisen (third) of Northern Iowa No. 7. Then there was Jonathan Loew (eighth) of Cornell (No. 14), finalist Myles Amine of Michigan (No. 18) and Bernie Truax (fourth) of Cal Poly, who was unranked. Imagine – an Olympic freestyle medalist barely making the top 20! It’s a testament to the depth in American wrestling.
197: With Bastida not eligible for this assessment, two of the seven All-Americans exited high school with double-digit rankings: Dean at one end and Greg Bulsak (eighth) of Rutgers, who finished No. 10, at the other. The rest finished in the top five, with runner-up Jacob Warner of Iowa, Elam (fourth) and Gavin Hoffman (sixth) of Ohio State all No. 1’s and Stephen Buchanan (third) of Wyoming and Eric Schultz (seventh) of Nebraska checking out at No. 5.
285: With the heavyweight class as loaded as it’s ever been, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the top seven all finished their prep careers in the top three. Steveson, Greg Kerkvliet (fourth) of Penn State and Mason Parris of Michigan all finished their prep careers No. 1. Runner-up Cohlton Schultz of Arizona State and Anthony Cassioppi (seventh) of Iowa both finished No. 2 and Jordan Wood (third) of Lehigh and Lucas Davison (sixth) of Northwestern checked out at No. 3. The perseverance award goes to unranked Christian Lance (eighth) of Nebraska, one of five All-Americans from the Class of 2015.
