Even though the Pennsylvania team fell to defeat this past Saturday night in the Dapper Dan Wrestling Classic, the event in and of itself still is a testament to the strength of wrestling in the Keystone State. Keep in mind that it took a team of wrestlers whom are among the country�s elite to knock off a squad of Pennsylvania seniors.
The Dapper Dan squad consisted of three wrestlers ranked first in the nation -- Ryak Finch (119) from Safford, AZ; Logan Stieber (125) from Monroeville, OH; and Michael Evans (189) from Blair Academy, NJ. Another pair of wrestlers is ranked second in their weight classes -- Ryen Nieman (135) from Bullock Creek, MI and Chris Villalonga (145) from Blair Academy, NJ. Three other wrestlers from the Dapper Dan squad are ranked third nationally -- Nick Sulzer (160) from St. Edward, OH; Trevor Rupp (215) from Pocatello, ID; and Bobby Telford (285) from St. Mark's, DE. Among the other five wrestlers -- two are ranked fourth, one is fifth, another sixth, and the lowest ranked member of the USA team was ranked eighth.
Please note that all wrestlers were ranked -- and/or evaluated for ranking -- in the weight class at which they competed during their respective state-level tournaments.
Six seniors from Pennsylvania are ranked first in the country at this time, including five consecutive wrestlers in the middleweights -- Josh Dziewa (135) from Council Rock South; Josh Kindig (140) from Blue Mountain; Andrew (145) and Dylan (152) Alton from Central Mountain; and Marshall Peppelman (160) from Central Dauphin. From those five weight classes alone, 13 Pennsylvania wrestlers are ranked among the top 20 in their weight class. In all, 39 wrestlers from Pennsylvania high schools find themselves ranked.
Five of the No. 1-ranked wrestlers compete at schools in New Jersey and Ohio. Two of those wrestlers -- Evans and Evan Silver (112) compete for Blair Academy, NJ, while Frank Cagnina (130) from Queen of Peace is the other Garden State grappler at the top of the rankings Two Monroeville wrestlers -- Logan Stieber and Chris Phillips (171) -- are ranked No. 1 one in the country from Ohio. These two states are next in the ranking count; New Jersey with 31, and Ohio with 27.
Rounding out the top-ranked wrestlers are Cody Phillips (103) from Union County, IN; Ryak Finch; and Kyle Cowan (215) from Cascia, OK.
Counting the wrestlers ranked by state:
39: Pennsylvania
31: New Jersey
27: Ohio
16: Iowa
15: California
14: Illinois
13: New York
11: Oklahoma
10: Minnesota
9: Michigan, Virginia, Wisconsin
8: Missouri
6: Indiana, Washington
5: Colorado, Delaware, Florida, South Dakota
4: Idaho, Kansas
3: Arizona, Nebraska, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas
2: Maryland, Oregon, Utah
1: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wyoming
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