Recapping the Seasons of the Top-Ten Recruits from 2023

The wrestling recruiting landscape has changed dramatically over the last few decades. The premiere high school talent is wrestling in more and more national-level competitions, and there is more tape of these wrestlers than ever before. With that being said, InterMat’s sister site, MatScouts, is still the best place to evaluate prospect talent and rank recruits. With the regular season nearing its conclusion, let’s look at how the top 10 wrestlers from last year’s senior big board have performed on the college level to date. No. 1 Meyer Shapiro (Cornell) Prior to attending Cornell, Shapiro earned the top spot in the recruiting rankings after picking up a variety of titles. He transferred to Wyoming Seminary for his junior season where he won a national prep title. Following the 2022-23 season, he won both the U20 national and world titles. Shapiro has worked his way into the sixth spot in the rankings at 157 pounds. He took a pair of losses against No. 21 Trevor Chumbley (Northwestern) and No. 8 Daniel Cardenas (Stanford) at the Cliff Keen Invitational, but he has gone undefeated ever since. Shapiro has already picked up signature wins over No. 13 Brock Mauller (Missouri) and No. 9 Bryce Andonian (Virginia Tech). Based on his ranking, he should be expected to win the EIWA conference tournament in Cornell’s final year in the conference before moving to the Ivy League next year. No. 2 Christian Carroll (Oklahoma State) While some ranking services had Carroll as the top-ranked wrestler in the class, MatScouts had him as the second-best prospect. The Indiana native originally committed to Illinois early in his high school career before eventually switching to Penn in 2021. However, in November 2022, flipped to the Cowboys and ultimately signed with Oklahoma State. During his high school career, he won a pair of Super 32 titles, a Fargo title and represented the U.S. at the U20 world championships. Carroll is currently redshirting for the Cowboys behind heavyweight starter No. 9 Konner Doucet. He has wrestled only three matches in his redshirt campaign. His season began with two wins at the Broncho Open in early November. Carroll then dropped a major decision against Seth Nitzel (Missouri) at the Lindenwood Open and medically forfeited out of the event. No. 3 Rocco Welsh (Ohio State) On the high school level, Welsh was a four-time Pennsylvania state finalist and a two-time champion. He also won Ironman, Super 32 and Who’s Number One. It appears likely that the original plan was for him to redshirt behind veteran Carson Kharchla, but those plans went awry after Kharchla suffered an injury. Welsh won nine matches in open tournaments before making his dual debut against Northern Iowa in mid-December. On the season, he has gone 16-3 with his three losses coming against some of the best wrestlers in the Big Ten conference: No. 8 Edmund Ruth (Illinois), No. 3 Shane Griffith (Michigan), and No. 1 Carter Starocci (Penn State). Welsh is currently ranked 11th and seems destined for the NCAA tournament. No. 4 Josh Barr (Penn State) Before joining Penn State, Barr was a four-time Michigan state champion and finished his high school career with a 125-1 record. He also won a Fargo title and competed at a pair of Who’s Number One events. The Penn State lineup is stacked at multiple weights including 184 pounds. Barr is currently redshirting behind multiple-time All-American No. 6 Bernie Truax. In his redshirt campaign, Barr has gone 15-0 with 11 of those victories coming with bonus points. He represented Penn State in their dual against Indiana and downed veteran Roman Rogotzke via 13-4 major decision. No. 5 Brayden Thompson (Oklahoma State) Thompson went 152-11 in high school with all 11 of his losses coming during his freshman season. As a senior, he made the finals of the U20 World Team Trials, won the Powerade tournament and took home an Ironman title. Things got off to a bit of a tough start for the Cowboy. Thompson started from the jump at 174 pounds, but he injury defaulted out of his very first match in a dual against Bucknell. He then returned at the Cliff Keen Invitational where he lost his only two matches. However, Thompson has since settled down and currently holds a 9-6 record with wins over Matthew Olguin (Oregon State), Cael Valencia (Arizona State), and No. 10 Peyton Mocco (Missouri). No. 6 Ben Kueter (Iowa) At Iowa City High School, Kueter went 111-0 and won four Iowa state titles. Following his senior season, he also won a U20 world championship. Despite all the wrestling accolades, Kueter appears determined to compete in both wrestling and football on the collegiate level. He spent the fall with the Hawkeye football team and joined the wrestling team after the holiday break. Kueter won his first two collegiate matches over Bennett Tabor (Minnesota) and Jack Jessen (Northwestern) with the second win coming via 45-second fall. In his last match, Kueter dropped his first collegiate match against No. 1 Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State) via 9-1 major decision. No. 7 Beau Mantanona (Michigan) Mantanona finished his high school career with a 125-5 record and a California state championship. He was also a Super 32 champion and won multiple titles at the Doc Buchanan tournament. Mantanona also represented the U.S. at the 2021 U20 World Championships. The original plan was for Mantanona to sit behind veteran No. 10 Cameron Amine this season at 165 pounds. However, due to injuries, he has been forced into action. To date, he has wrestled in only three duals, so he is still eligible to redshirt this season. Mantanona won his dual debut over Tanner Cook (South Dakota State) but then dropped back-to-back matches against No. 19 Bryce Hepner (Ohio State) and No. 7 Michael Caliendo (Iowa). Outside of those matches, Mantanona has also competed at the Michigan State Open, Cleveland State Open, and the Midlands. At the Midlands, he picked up his biggest victory to date when he pinned No. 9 Caleb Fish (Michigan State). No. 8 Cael Hughes (Oklahoma State) Hughes did not need to travel far to wrestle for the Cowboys. He was a four-time Oklahoma state champion at Stillwater High School and finished his run with an undefeated 140-0 record. He also won both Ironman and Fargo and also represented the U.S. at the U20 world championships. No. 8 Tagen Jamison has been the starter for Oklahoma State at 141 pounds so far this season. Hughes has taken advantage of the redshirt season and has been impressive in open tournaments. For the most part, he has been dominant against lesser opposition and compiled a 12-1 record with his only loss coming against teammate Sammy Alvarez in rideouts. Hughes did make it into the lineup against Wyoming and scored a major decision over Stockton O’Brien. No. 9 Tyler Kasak (Penn State) During his time at Bethlehem Catholic, Kasak was a Pennsylvania state champion and picked up titles at the Ironman, Beast of the East, and Escape the Rock tournaments. He also brought home a silver medal from the U20 World Championships. This was originally supposed to be a redshirt year for Kasak. However, the Nittany Lions were forced to shuffle the deck after an injury to All-American Shayne Van Ness. Kasak took over the starting spot at 149 pounds and has shown just how deep the Penn State lineup really is. He has gone 12-2 on the season with one of those losses coming against teammate No. 1 Beau Bartlett down at 141 pounds. Kasak has gone 3-1 in Big Ten duals including a win over No. 10 Dylan D’Emilio (Ohio State) and a sudden victory defeat against No. 8 Caleb Rathjen (Iowa). No. 10 Kannon Webster (Illinois) Illinois would like to keep more in-state kids home, and Webster was a big recruiting win for the program. He was a three-time Illinois state champion during his time at Washington Community High School and a two-time Fargo Junior freestyle champion. Webster has gone 17-1 so far this season, and he currently sits in a bit of an odd spot. He has wrestled in six dual matches, but since two of those matches occurred on the same day, he is right at the limit for a redshirt. His last dual meet match came against Iowa back on Jan. 26. When in the lineup, Webster has been overly impressive and picked up wins over D’Emilio, Rathjen and No. 14 Corbyn Munson. That being said, it appears as if Webster will use the 2023-24 to redshirt.

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