NHSCA’s kicks off this Friday with Session 1 getting started at 745 am. Over the three days, wrestlers from across the nation will work their way through the brackets and All Americans and NHSCA Champs will be crowned on Sunday. Wrestlers are separated into their year in High School … so Senior 113’s will wrestle other Senior 113’s - no Junior, Sophomores, or Freshmen will be in the bracket.

Below is a look at each weight in the the Senior division. You can catch all of the action this weekend on flowrestling. Keep in mind - this is who was registered as of Monday of this week … names get added, dropped, and weights change - so take what you see with a grain of salt. Because there are so many entrants … I gave a short “who to watch” for each weight. Doesn’t mean each will place or that someone else won’t win it … these are just some of the names I will be watching this weekend (alphabetical order by last name). I chose names out of the SE because they “popped off the page” for me … meaning I have seen them compete at Super 32, Fargo, or somewhere else.

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113 (18 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Aidan Fincher (GA)

• Dom Flatt (PA)

• Conner Hueck (FL)

• James Levy (SC)

• Marlon Yarbrough (OH)

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120 (42 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Brayden Abell (CA)

• Chris Albo (FL)

• Dylan Lauriano (LA)

• Spencer Moore (KY)

• Nico Provo (CT)

• Daniel Uhorchuk (TN)

Really good weight class with nationally ranked Spencer Moore and Nico Provo, as well as Daniel Uhorchuk and California’s Brayden Abell.

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126 (45 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Carter Bailey (CA)

• Jackson Bradford (TN)

• Jacob Dease (AL)

• James Joplin (NC)

• Josh Koderhandt (IL)

• Chase Liardi (NY)

• Sebastian Melguizo (FL)

• Josh Noble (GA)

Really good group from the SE join hammers Carter Bailey, Josh Koderhandt, and Chase Liardi.

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132 (45 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Kyren Butler (OH)

• Jude Camacho (TX)

• Jager Eisch (WI)

• Tucker Kinsaul (GA)

• Richard Treanor (NC)

• Jack Whitmire (GA)

It looks like Eisch is the only nationally-ranked wrestler in the group, but keep an eye on Treanor, Butler, and a tough Jude Camacho.

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138 (51 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Kaleb Clark (GA)

• Dayne Dalrymple (TN)

• Riley Edwards (NC)

• Maney Havis (AL)

• Jaekus Hines (FL)

• Rudy Lopez (CO)

• Matt Lucas (CT)

Don’t be surprised to see an all SE final at 138.

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145 (55 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Bryce Dauphin (OK)

• Cade Lucio (CA)

• Nathan Higley (PA)

• Justin Mastroianni (CT)

• Brent McNichols (FL)

• Hunter Noland (GA)

Have seen both Dauphin and Mastroianni in person … add in Higley and Lucio and it will be interesting to see how Noland and McNichols work through the bracket.

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152 (44 registered)

Who to Watch:

• John Altieri (PA)

• Evan Anthony (TN)

• Kaleb Burgess (NY)

• Darian Estevez (FL)

• George Honiotes (GA)

• Will Miller (AL)

• Myles Griffin (FL)

• Andrew Trahan (LA)

Really good weight class that includes PA’s John Altieri. Estevez has looked outstanding this season and will certainly make a run for he top step.

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160 (40 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Jesse Alvarado (VA)

• Chandler Amaker (SC)

• Oren Bost (NC)

• Dylan Kohn (FL)

• Cody Rice (FL)

Names that stood out the most were all from the SE (yeah we will lump VA’s Alvarado in the SE as well).

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170 (47 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Dalton Battle (GA)

• David Bertrand (GA)

• Nolan Craine (KS)

• Nicholas Fine (RI)

• Tyler Joseph (NY)

• Josh Swan (FL)

• Lance Urbas (PA)

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182 (30 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Colt Barley (PA)

• Gaven Bell (NY)

• Lucas Cochran (UT)

• Aaron Cramer (IL)

• CJ Glaropoulos (MA)

• Theo Sewell (TN)

• Ethan Sutton (TN)

• Aiden Warren (IN)

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195 (33 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Jonathan Chesser (GA)

• Ryan Cody (FL)

• Holden Cypher (NC)

• Jack Forbes (CO)

• Levi Kluttz (NC)

• Conor Maslanek (NH)

• Isaiah Reinert (PA)

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220 (22 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Ryan Catka (PA)

• Mason Cover (OH)

• Kodie Hughes Hightower (SC)

• Tristan Middlebrook (FL)

• Nikolas Mishka (IL)

• Garrett Sumner (GA)

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285 (30 registered)

Who to Watch:

• Jacob Christensen (CA)

• Steven Culberson (OK)

• Tristen Kemp (MA)

• Triston Norris (NC)

• Jagger Schack (MN)

• Zachary Schraeder (CO)

• James Zogg (AL)

Norris has been working to get bigger and fill out that heavyweight role in college … this might be the first time we see him up at 285 vs. some top Seniors from around the country.

Taken directly from the NFHS press release.

States will have a choice of 12, 13 or 14 weight classes for both boys and girls competition in high school wrestling, effective with the 2023-24 season.

This will be the first separate weight classes established for girls in high school wrestling, and it marks the first time that state associations will have a choice in the number of weight classes.

The landmark change in weight classes was one of several significant revisions recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Wrestling Rules Committee at its April 7-9 meeting held virtually this year. All recommendations were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors. 

States must select one of the three sets (12, 13 or 14) of weight classes for girls and one of the three sets (12, 13 or 14) for boys. States cannot adopt all three sets and cannot switch back and forth during the season.

The following weight classes (in pounds) were established for girls competition (girls wrestling girls), effective July 1, 2023:

12 Weight Classes – 100, 107, 114, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165, 185, 235.

13 Weight Classes – 100, 106, 112, 118, 124, 130, 136, 142, 148, 155, 170, 190, 235.

14 Weight Classes – 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 155, 170, 190, 235.

The following weight classes (in pounds) were established for boys competition (boys wrestling boys or girls wrestling boys), effective July 1, 2023:

12 Weight Classes – 108, 116, 124, 131, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 190, 215, 285

13 Weight Classes – 107, 114, 121, 127, 133, 139, 145, 152, 160, 172, 189, 215, 285

14 Weight Classes – 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215, 285

“Previous surveys have indicated a varying number of weight classes that states wanted, so the committee attempted to meet the needs of as many people as possible,” said Elliot Hopkins, NFHS director of sports and student services and liaison to the Wrestling Rules Committee. “We have more and more state associations sponsoring girls wrestling and holding state championships for girls, so the committee believed it was time to establish uniform weight classifications for girls.

“The recommended weights were established based upon more than 215,000 assessments from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. We are excited about these changes to weight classes in high school wrestling as we believe it will provide more opportunities for male and female student-athletes to be involved in this great sport.”

 In another major change affecting risk minimization, a separate 5-minute time-out has been established for the onsite health-care professional to evaluate potential head and neck injuries involving the cervical column (HNC) and/or nervous system.

“There was a desire to establish a separate injury time-out that concerns the head and neck involving the cervical column and/or nervous system and not connect it with the existing 1½-minute injury time-outs or any other stoppage of the match,” Hopkins said. “This separate time-out is supported and covered in existing rules that give the referee the authority to observe the signs, symptoms and behaviors of a concussion and respond appropriately.”

As a result of the separate HNC time-out, which takes effect next year, a number of other rules in the 2021-22 NFHS Wrestling Rules Book will be altered. 

The other significant change in high school wrestling rules for 2021-22 addresses the number of matches allowed in one day of competition. Currently, no wrestler shall represent the school in more than one weight class in any meet or wrestle in more than five matches, excluding forfeits, in any one day of competition.

A change provides an exception to Rule 1-4-3 as follows: “No wrestler shall wrestle in more than six matches (championship or consolation), excluding forfeits, in any one day of a tournament conducted by the state high school association for qualification to the state high school championships or the specific state championships.”

This change was enacted as a result of a successful experiment by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. Hopkins said that increasing the number of matches from five to six would allow postseason tournaments with more than eight competitors in a weight class to complete the tournament in one day. He said, in many cases, this change would eliminate the need for schools to stay overnight to participate in respective state qualifying tournaments and state championship events.

“Since this exception would only allow six matches per day to be wrestled in the postseason qualifying tournament or state championship event, the impact on the total number of matches that an individual wrestles in an entire season would be minimal,” Hopkins said. “We do not want to extend this change to the regular season, and this exception would not come into play for the majority of participants.”

Two other minor changes were made in the rules for next year. Rule 4-5-7 no longer will require low-cut socks to be worn as a part of the weigh-in procedure, and one change was made in Rule 5-1-1 dealing with choice of position during bad time.   

A complete listing of the wrestling rules changes will be available on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org. Click on “Activities & Sports” at the top of the home page and select “Wrestling.”

According to the most recent NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, wrestling is the seventh-most popular sport for boys with 247,441 participants in 10,843 schools. In addition, a total of 21,124 girls are involved in the sport in 2,890 schools.

The SE had quite a few wrestlers spread across the country this past weekend - not to mention the “local” tournaments taking place in Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. The two largest “national-level” tournaments were the Reno Worlds in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Ultimate Club Duals in Pennsylvania. Below are some results I was able to find from each event. If I missed any wrestlers - please let me know. Also for all tournaments this is primarily focused on high school-age wrestlers … I might note some middle schoolers if they are wrestling “up” or I recognized their names from this past high school season.

2021 Reno Worlds in Tulsa - Open 15U

• Sebastian Degennaro (FL) - 2nd at 101 - Lost to Virginia’s Chase Van Hoven in the finals 4-2.

• Bryson Terrell (TN) - 4th at 108

• Richie Clementi (LA) - 6th at 108

• Amantee Mills (GA) - 4th at 125

• Blue Stifler (SC) - 7th at 125

• Dominic Bambinelli (GA) - 5th at 135

• Phillip Dillard (FL) - 8th at 285

2021 Reno Worlds in Tulsa - Open 18U

• Aiden Fincher (GA) - 2nd at 113 - Lost to Andrew Martin in the finals 5-3

• Jake Crapps (GA) - 2nd at 120 - Lost to Joey Cruz (CA) in the semis and then took true second by downing Clayton Giddens-Buttram (OK) 6-3

• Kent Burandt (LA) - 8th at 126

• John McNichols (FL) - 2nd at 138 - Lost to Christian Kiser (OK) by fall in the finals

• Jarad Faulkner (GA) - 6th at 138

• Hunter Hanna (AR) - 8th at 152

• Justin Crutchmer (AR) - Champ at 160 - downed Owen Vike (MN) 7-3 in the finals

• Rocco Horvath (LA) - 5th at 170

• Vincent Bryan (AR) - 2nd at 182/195 - Lost to Taner Harvey

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2021 Ultimate Club Duals

SE wrestlers could be found primarily on two teams in the National Division - Shutt and JK Squad. Team Shutt finished 2nd overall - losing to M2 Magicians 43-39 in the finals and JK Squad was 4th (lost to Shutt in the semis and then to Sebolt for 3rd). Here are some of the results we found:

JK Squad:

• Christopher Swann (GA) - 3-3 at 34 kg

• Shamus Regan (SC) - 4-2 at 36 kg

• Mac Johnson (NC) - 2-4 at 38 kg

• Tye Johnson (NC) - 3-3 at 40 kg

• Liam Davis (FL) - 5-1 at 43 kg

• Drew Gorman (GA) - 5-1 at 51 kg (lost to Jesuroga 6-0)

• Jacob Silka (GA) - 7-0 at 54 kg

• Hunter Mason (TN) - 5-1 at 60 kg

• David Panone (GA) - 2-4 at 63 kg

• Joe Sealey (NC) - 5-2 at 69 kg (lost to Kilic)

• Tyler Lillard (GA) - 5-1 at 77 kg

• Ashton Davis (TN) - 5-2 at 129 kg

Team Shutt:

• Hudson Chittum (TN) - 6-0 at 34 kg

• Cooper Flynn (TN) - 7-0 at 57 kg

• Hunter Noland (GA) - 5-1 at 66 kg

• Michael Kilic (GA) - 5-2 at 69 kg

• RJ Weston (GA) - 7-0 at 73 kg

Level Up Girls (Georgia) finished 6th in Pool B and 11th overall

Kara-Lynn Dover was 4-2 at 30 kg, Callie Payton was 5-2 at 48 kg, Genevieve An was 5-2 wrestling at 58 and 61 kg, and May Prado was 5-2 wrestling at 61 and 65 kg. Several other girls from Georgia also competed.

Hammer Chicks finished 3rd in Pool A and 5th overall (they had several SE girls on their squad)

Kyleigh Langley (SC) was 4-1 at 25 kg, Ryleigh Sturgill (TN) was 5-2 at 33 kg, Caroline Hilton (TN) was 4-1 at 39 kg, Emma Bacon was 4-0 at 41 kg, Hailee Moder was 3-2 at 44 kg, April Kelly was 6-1 at 58 kg, and Jo-Ellen Hutto was 5-1 at 61 kg.

Taina McGowan (FL) was a force at 44 kg. She was 6-1 with her only loss coming to Jayden Keller Milan of Missouri 12-5.