All-Americans Sammy Sasso (right) and Kyle Parco (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)Earlier this week, InterMat released its re-ranking for the high school Class of 2018. With recruiting on the mind, we decided to jump in and look at each individual weight class for the 2023 NCAA DI Championships.
As is customary in wrestling we'll start with the lower weights and work our way up.
This analysis will break down the 2023 NCAA qualifiers a weight class at a time, by their pre-collegiate ranking within their recruiting class, their year of high school graduation, transfers, home states, and, of course, rankings for the 2023 All-Americans.
Moving along to the 149 lb weight class. This is a group that featured three wrestlers ranked in the top-five of their respective recruiting classes. Oddly enough, those three finished up 1-2-3 at nationals. All eight of the 2023 All-Americans were ranked #73 or better in their high school class. In addition, there were five past All-Americans that didn't make it to the stand in 2023.
Even with three 2023 All-Americans moving on next season, this weight should continue to get better as almost a third of its entrants were from the high school Class of 2021 or 2022.
For past weights in this series:
125 lbs
133 lbs
141 lbs
2023 NCAA Qualifiers (149 lbs) by Recruiting Rankings
#1-#10
#3 (2017) Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
#4 (2018) Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
#5 (2021) Shayne Van Ness (Penn State)
#8 (2019) Jaden Abas (Stanford)
#8 (2021) Chance Lamer (Michigan)
#11-#30
#11 (2017) Austin Gomez (Wisconsin)
#15 (2018) Quinn Kinner (Rider)
#15 (2021) Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State)
#16 (2022) Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech)
#20 (2017) Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia)
#28 (2022) Jackson Arrington (NC State)
#31-#50
#43 (2017) Dom Demas (Cal Poly)
#43 (2021) Ethen Miller (Maryland)
#44 (2017) Max Murin (Iowa)
#44 (2018) Michael Blockhus (Minnesota)
#51-#100
#69 (2021) Tony White (Rutgers)
#71 (2019) Kyle Parco (Arizona State)
#73 (2018) Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#87 (2018) Mitch Moore (Oklahoma)
#101-#200
#106 (2020) Kellyn March (North Dakota State)
#156 (2021) Dylan Chappell (Bucknell)
#200+
#211 (2021) Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville)
Not Ranked
Ryan Burgos (Edinboro) 2020
Isaiah Delgado (Utah Valley) 2018
Alec Hagan (Ohio) 2017
Nathan Higley (George Mason) 2021
Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan) 2019
Dylan Martinez (Air Force) 2018
Johnathan Millner (Appalachian State) 2017
Colin Realbuto (2018) Northern Iowa
Graham Rooks (2018) Indiana
Yahya Thomas (2017) Northwestern
Doug Zapf (2018) Penn
2023 NCAA Qualifiers (149 lbs) by Recruiting Class
2017
Dom Demas (Cal Poly)
Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
Austin Gomez (Wisconsin)
Alec Hagan (Ohio)
Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State)
Max Murin (Iowa)
Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)
Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia)
2018
Michael Blockhus (Minnesota)
Isaiah Delgado (Utah Valley)
Quinn Kinner (Rider)
Dylan Martinez (Air Force)
Brock Mauller (Missouri)
Mitch Moore (Oklahoma)
Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa)
Graham Rooks (Indiana)
Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
Doug Zapf (Penn)
2019
Jaden Abas (Stanford)
Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan)
Kyle Parco (Arizona State)
2020
Ryan Burgos (Edinboro)
Kellyn March (North Dakota State)
2021
Dylan Chappell (Bucknell)
Nathan Higley (George Mason)
Paniro Johnson (Iowa State)
Chance Lamer (Michigan)
Ethen Miller (Maryland)
Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville)
Shayne Van Ness (Penn State)
Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State)
Tony White (Rutgers)
2022
Jackson Arrington (NC State)
Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech)
Home States for 149 lb NCAA Qualifiers
California
Jaden Abas (Stanford)
Kyle Parco (Arizona State)
Colorado
Dylan Martinez (Air Force)
Florida
Johnny Lovett (Central Michigan)
Georgia
Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech)
Illinois
Austin Gomez (Wisconsin)
Yahya Thomas (Northwestern)
Caleb Tyus (SIU Edwardsville)
Indiana
Graham Rooks (Indiana)
Iowa
Michael Blockhus (Minnesota)
Missouri
Alec Hagan (Ohio)
Brock Mauller (Missouri)
Ethen Miller (Maryland)
New Jersey
Quinn Kinner (Rider)
Shayne Van Ness (Penn State)
Tony White (Rutgers)
New York
Ryan Burgos (Edinboro)
Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell)
Colin Realbuto (Northern Iowa)
North Carolina
Jonathan Millner (Appalachian State)
Ohio
Dom Demas (Cal Poly)
Mitch Moore (Oklahoma)
Victor Voinovich (Oklahoma State)
Oregon
Chance Lamer (Michigan)
Pennsylvania
Jackson Arrington (NC State)
Dylan Chappell (Bucknell)
Nathan Higley (George Mason)
Paniro Johnson (Iowa State)
Max Murin (Iowa)
Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
Jarod Verkleeren (Virginia)
Doug Zapf (Penn)
South Dakota
Kellyn March (North Dakota State)
Texas
Isaiah Delgado (Utah Valley)
149 lbs NCAA Qualifier Signed by a previous program
Michael Blockhus (Northern Iowa)
Dom Demas (Oklahoma)
Austin Gomez (Iowa State)
Quinn Kinner (Ohio State)
Mitch Moore (Virginia Tech)
Kyle Parco (Fresno State)
Colin Realbuto (Brown)
Jarod Verkleeren (Penn State)
Recruiting Rankings for 2023 All-Americans
1st: Yianni Diakomihalis (Cornell) - #3 in 2017
2nd: Sammy Sasso (Ohio State) -#4 in 2018
3rd: Shayne Van Ness (Penn State) - #5 in 2021
4th: Kyle Parco (Arizona State) - #71 in 2019
5th: Caleb Henson (Virginia Tech) - #16 in 2022
6th: Max Murin (Iowa) - #44 in 2017
7th: Brock Mauller (Missouri) - #73 in 2018
8th: Michael Blockhus (Minnesota) - #44 in 2018
