2020-21 High School Rankings

113

Everything about this spring and summer has been unprecedented. Putting together the first ranking of the year was not easy with months between competitions and most wrestlers have not been on the mat since their state championship. Grand River Rumble, King of the Ring, and Midwest Iron Man have been considered in the rankings. Normally a tournament in the middle of the summer after a long layoff would be a pretty insignificant data point. Unfortunately, these are the only data points we have since March. More than usual lengthy resumes were given more leeway for sub-par performances at any of these events. We do have some weight declarations and have adjusted accordingly. 

If a wrestler has not competed, and we don’t have any information on a projected weight class, a one weight class adjustment has been made. Once wrestlers start competing again adjustments will be made. The one exception is 106lbs. Often the weight is reloaded with breakout performers from UWW Cadet World Team Trials and Fargo. I have kept some wrestlers at the weight as I believe they could be back for another year at the weight. With that said, 106lbs will be added in the fall. Junior high results don’t create enough data points with several weight classes filtering into the bottom weight. Everything at this point would be speculation. Without NHSCA, Fargo, and the spring/summer dual events it’s just too long of a competitive layoff to get an accurate handle on the landscape of the weight class.

Add Pennsylvania to Michigan as states that don’t follow NFHS weight classes. This will be a case-by-case basis to fit the wrestlers into a weight class at the national level. Pennsylvania will compete in the same weights up to 160lbs. From there they will wrestle 172, 189, 215 and 285. The 189lb wrestlers will be the wrestlers in question here. They will be considered at 182 and 195lbs. This isn’t the big departure that Michigan takes using the old weight classes prior to the 2011 change. 

113lbs is currently a mix of a few returning 113lbers and the majority of the 106lb crop from last season. The competitions that have been wrestled so far haven’t done rankers any favors by having alternate weights and allowances. The 117lb weight class in the summer is difficult to judge for guys moving forward. I may be a little aggressive keeping #1 Joey Cruz (CA) down, but he did compete at the 117lb class at King of the Ring. The merger of the top guys from 106lbs and 113lbs make for a fascinating top 5. Cruz beat both #3 Braxton Brown (TX) and #4 Andre Gonzalez (CA) at Reno last season. #5 Blake West is another holdover from last season at the weight that wrestled lighter than where I would have expected at Grand River Rumble.

The Watch list is very robust and has many deserving individuals waiting to get their chance to prove they belong in the top 20.