Alabama Since 2000
Ironclad’s Jake Elkins and I are working on a series of shows for the month of September entitled the Top 25 of the Last 25 featuring our Top 25 wrestlers in Alabama since 2000 (the last 25 years). A couple of points of clarification …
What do we mean by since 2000?
A wrestler must have wrestled at least one season in the state of Alabama since 2000. A good example of this is Michael Sutton. Sutton was a 6x State Champion, but won at least one of those titles in the 90’s. That said … he wrestled many years in the early 2000’s and as a result is considered for this list.
What do we mean by Top?
There have been at least 21 wrestlers that won 4 or 5 State Titles that meet the above criteria (since 2000) as well as 3 that won 6 titles (Michael Sutton, Zachary Van Alst, and Brandon Womack). But this is more than simply a best high school wrestler in the state of Alabama … college and international wrestling matters as well (as does Fargo, World Team Trials, etc.), but “kids” wrestling does not. We aren’t concerned with 15 Tulsa titles - it is a great accomplishment, but our lists will be focused on high school and beyond. One additional note … becoming a great coach, official, etc. also does not count for this list. This is only a list of someone’s wrestling accomplishments.
I’ve only included the high school and college accomplishments below because that is all I could get to before needing to focus on the show … that said - I put a lot of value in Fargo titles, making a world team, etc.
Did we miss someone?
I know we missed some that meet the criteria … either because they wrestled once in the AHSAA State Tournament and then moved out of state or because I missed them when looking over college brackets. If you notice anyone that we missed (that also meet the criteria listed below) - please let us know.
Look for the podcast series (it will be 3 shows) to launch in mid-September. That said - we need your help.
Below is a list of 87 wrestlers that meet at least one of three criteria: 1) 3x, 4x, 5x or 6x High School State Champion since 2000, 2) were a college All American (any level from NJCAA to Division 1), and/or 3) were an NCAA D1 Qualifier. Unfamiliar with some of the names? Check out their accomplishments in the sheet below (be sure to scroll right as well as up and down to see everyone as well as what they did in college). Come up with 10 and then let us know who would be in your top 10 by clicking the link to the survey.