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  • Photo: Photo/Rob Preston

    Josh Lowe •

    Photo: Photo/Rob Preston

    No. 1 Blair Academy, No. 2 Wyoming Seminary to collide at National Preps

    Blair Academy's Michael Colaiocco (106) won a Beast of the East title earlier this season, and will now look to add a National Prep title (Photo/Rob Preston)
    The top two teams in the country, No. 1 Blair Academy and No. 2 Wyoming Seminary, will be joined by another pair of nationally ranked teams, No. 23 Malvern Prep (Pa.) and No. 49 Good Counsel (Md.), in the tournament on Friday and Saturday. Wyoming Seminary beat Blair Academy to win the Walsh Ironman in mid-December, while Blair Academy won a late January dual meet. In some ways this is a rubber match.

    However, this rubber match has a complicating factor, as post-graduate wrestlers and/or those re-classified as seniors can compete. That is to say wrestlers otherwise unable to compete in NFHS sanctioned events will be among the field. Given that is the case, performance by those wrestlers has to be "controlled for". Blair Academy has no post-graduate wrestlers in their lineup, while Wyoming Seminary will have Greg Kleinsmith (170) and Michael Rogers (285); Kleinsmith is a potential finalist, while Rogers is the defending National Prep champion.

    Twelve of the fourteen weight classes in this tournament have at least one nationally ranked wrestler. Below is a listing of nationally ranked wrestlers in the field.

    106: No. 13 Michael Colaiocco (Blair Academy)
    113: No. 13 Chris Cannon (Blair Academy)
    120: No. 13 Trey Chalifoux (Father Ryan, Tenn.), No. 17 Jack Davis (Wyoming Seminary); also here is two-time National Prep champion Joey Prata (St. Christopher's, Va.)
    126: No. 5 Jack Mueller (Trinity Christian Academy, Texas)
    132: No. 8 Requir van der Merwe (Blair Academy)
    145: No. 6 Eric Hong (The Kiski School, Pa.), No. 18 Leonard Merkin (Poly Prep, N.Y.); also here is three-time National Prep runner-up Kevin Budock (Good Counsel)
    152: No. 1 Mason Manville (Wyoming Seminary)
    160: No. 15 Ryan Karoly (Blair Academy)
    170: No. 5 Brandon Dallavia (Blair Academy)
    182: No. 9 Michael Beard (Malvern Prep), No. 12 Christian Dietrich (Wyoming Seminary)
    195: No. 1 Nick Reenan (Wyoming Seminary), No. 3 Chase Singletary (Blair Academy), No. 17 Rashon Lusane (Malvern Prep), No. 18 Ryan Parker (The Baylor School, Tenn.)
    220: No. 15 Seth Janney (Malvern Prep), No. 16 Will Hilliard (Wyoming Seminary)

    Wyoming Seminary seems to have the deeper overall roster in this tournament, especially with the two post-graduate wrestlers augmenting their NFHS roster. They are the favorites to win the tournament; however, the question is if the margin is enough to be ahead when considering the impact of post-graduate wrestlers compared to their NFHS option.
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