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Wyoming Seminary Cruises To Ironman Title

This past weekend, we again got to see some of the best high school wrestlers in the country descend upon Ohio to compete at Ironman.

As usual, the tournament didn’t disappoint, but it was the performance out of Wyoming Seminary that really turned some heads. Not only did the Blue Knights crown four individual champs but they ran away with the team title as well. Wyoming Sem scored 268 points to beat runner-up Blair Academy and its 174.5 points. Edmond North finished third with 146 points.

Wyoming Seminary had seven total finalists with #6 Davis Motyka (113 pounds), #1 Luke Lilledahl (126), #2 Vince Bouzakis (150) and #3 Jude Correa (215) all winning titles. Shamus Regan (#7 at 106), #2 Joseph Sealey (165) and #7 Jake Dailey (190) all made it to the finals but fell short of winning. 

Additionally, Wyoming Sem had a third-place finisher in #5 Nathan Desmond at 120 and a fourth-placer in #9 Mathew Botello at 132.

Blair Academy had a pair of champions in #2 Leo DeLuca at 120 pounds and #4 Carter Neves at heavyweight. Blair had five other placers, led by third-place finisher #16 William Dekraker at 138.

Which College Program “Won” Ironman?

As we know, many of the top wrestlers at the Ironman will be the stars of tomorrow in the NCAA. We also know where many of them will be going to school to compete, which begs the question: Which college had the most impressive set of recruits at Ironman?

There are a number of different ways one could think about that question. 

If you’re wondering who had the most individual champs, that would be Iowa and Ohio State. Iowa saw titles from both #1 Angelo Ferrari (165) and DeLuca of Blair at 120, while the Buckeyes saw their commits win titles at 132 and 285 with #1 Ben Davino and Neves, respectively. Ohio State also had fourth-place finisher #5 Ethan Birden at 165.

As for the college with the most placers, that would be both Missouri and NC State with five each. Missouri had a finalist in #9 Sampson Stillwell at heavyweight. He led the crop of Tiger commits. As for NC State, it was led by a fourth-place finish by #8 Jaydon Robinson at 144.

Another good criteria could be which college had the most commits in the finals. Nebraska led the pack with three in the finals. At 190, #6 Cade Ziola took home his first Ironman title while #10 Omar Ayoub (138) and #4 Kody Routledge (150) finished as runners-up. Nebraska also had a fourth-placer in #5 Tyler Eise at 175.

Outside of Iowa and Ohio State with their pair of finalists, Penn State and Oklahoma also had two in it until the end. Penn State picked up a championship from Lilledahl at 126, while Sealey fell to Ferrari in the finals. Oklahoma had a championship from in-state commit #13 Landyn Sommer at 157. The Sooners had four total placers, led by Sommer and #3 Beric Jordan (second place at 120).

As for teams that had one commit win an individual title: Arizona State had #1 Pierson Manville at 144, Penn had #6 Davis Motyka at 113, Virginia Tech saw #2 Gage Wright win at 175, and Michigan had Correa at 215.

If your favorite college didn’t appear here, don’t fret! There were three undecided Ironman champs and eight finalists who haven’t yet picked a college – many of them just sophomores and freshmen. Leading the uncommitted pack were champions Bo Bassett at 138 (#1 at 138) and Bouzakis (150) as well as runners-up Jax Forrest (#2 at 126) and Marcus Blaze (#2 at 132).

For whichever college gets these kids to sign, they could be game-changers.

Multi-Time Ironman Champions

There were three wrestlers crowned this past weekend as multi-time champions at Ironman. 

Ferrari won his third Ironman title with his win over Sealey. The pound-for-pound #1 wrestler in the country also won titles in 2021 (157) and 2022. If not for the 2020 tournament being canceled, Ferrari could have had an opportunity to become just the third four-time Ironman champ (David Taylor and Zahid Valencia each won four). Ferrari also has multiple wins at Who’s Number One.

Winning their second titles were Lilledahl, Bassett and Davino. 

A senior, Lilledahl is a three-time finalist at Ironman, dropping a final to Blaze in 2021 before beating Forrest the past two years. Lilledahl is also a Who’s Number One winner.

Just a sophomore, Bassett is now a two-time Ironman champ after winning last year at 113 and bumping all the way up to 138 this year to win his second in dominant fashion, teching or pinning everyone up until a 5-1 win over Ayoub in the final. Bassett is already a U17 World champion and a Super 32 champion as well.

Davino is heading to Ohio State next year with a lengthy list of accolades, including his second Ironman title. He’s also a Fargo champion, a Super 32 winner and a winner at Who’s Number One. 

High Schoolers at Senior Nationals

There are a few top-level high school wrestlers who are slated to compete at Senior Nationals this weekend. Two of them are making the short turnaround from competing in Ironman one weekend and Senior Nationals the next in Lilledahl and Sealey.

Lilledahl will compete at 57 kg in freestyle where he’s been extraordinary for his age. He won U17 World silver in 2021 before winning U17 gold in 2022. This past summer, he won a U20 silver medal. He most recently competed at the Bill Farrell where he made it to the semis but fell to Spencer Lee via 11-0 tech.

Another U17 world champ, Sealey will compete at 74 kg after also competing at the Bill Farrell recently. He made it to the quarterfinal round where he lost to Alex Marinelli 11-6. 

Two more high-schoolers who are entered at Senior Nationals are Connor Mirasola (#2 at 190) and Cole Mirasola (#2 at 285) out of Wisconsin. Wrestling at 86 kg, Connor is a Fargo champ and wrestled at the Bill Farrell as well, pinning Evan Wick in the quarters before falling to Alex Dieringer in the semis 9-3. Cole is up at 97 kg this weekend – he’s a Fargo finalist and made it to the quarters of the BIll Farrell where he lost to Ben Honis 8-4.

Beast of the East Coming Up

The 31st annual Beast of the East tournament will take place this weekend on Dec. 16-17 at the University of Delaware Bob Carpenter Center. One of the toughest in-season tournaments of the year, here’s what we know going in:

Blair Academy and Bergen Catholic will be back in the field after not attending last year. Both programs have been staples at this tournament and will try to recapture the title from last year’s champion Delbarton. 

It looks like there will be a lot of really good action in the lighter weights. At 106, Ironman champ and #2-ranked Joe Bachmann of Faith Christian Academy could face Blair Academy’s #13 Vincenzo Anello, who placed sixth at Ironman after losing a tight 4-3 match in the semis to Wyoming Seminary’s Shamus Regan. 

The 120-pound weight class may be the best weight of the tournament. Ironman champ DeLuca should be there and we could see him against #1 Anthony Knox, a Cornell commit who may be at 126 this weekend. These two guys are best friends and have some history on the mat with Knox edging DeLuca late at this year’s Who’s Number One. Regardless of whether Knox is there, this weight still has some heavy hitters in #8 Gauge Botero of Faith Christian Academy and #15 Keanu Dillard of Bethlehem Catholic. Another name to watch for at 120 would be Aaron Seidel, who is ranked #1 at 113.

At 132, the field could include #13 Tahir Parkins of Nazareth, #15 Matty Lopes of Blair Academy, #17 Jayden James of Delbarton, and #7 Nick O’Neill of Malvern Prep who just placed third at Ironman.

Two top Pennsylvania guys could clash at 150 with both #5 Kollin Rath of Bethlehem Catholic and #9 Collin Gaj of Quakertown set to be in the field.