Ranking the high schoolers

[BAC]

I don't think there's ever been the time when the US has ever had 5 high schoolers as good and accomplished as these five:

L Lockett

J Forrest

M Blaze

P Duke

B Bassett

How would you rank them, in freestyle?  Anyone more deserving of top 5 than these five?  (The Open's done but still plenty of time for upsets at U20s...)

[Truzzcat]

2 hours ago, BAC said:

I don't think there's ever been the time when the US has ever had 5 high schoolers as good and accomplished as these five:

L Lockett

J Forrest

M Blaze

P Duke

B Bassett

How would you rank them, in freestyle?  Anyone more deserving of top 5 than these five?  (The Open's done but still plenty of time for upsets at U20s...)

1. Jax/Marcus: Jax jumped levels which is insane to say because he was already so good. Marcus won the last one it was 8-1 really 4-1 yolo lat drop by jax at the end. Jax obviously is much better than he was then but I cant say he beats Marcus with any confidence.

2. PJ/Dee: Slight lean to PJ but not enough to separate them.

3. Bo: I don't think he is as good as these guys he just does not have the same body of work against elite guys.

[lisa morales]

2 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

jumped levels

Such an overused phrase.   Do even know what it means?  How many levels are there to jump? 

[headshuck]

I prefer leaps and bounds.

[Hammerlock3]

how the best high school wrestler ever isn't even the best in his class!!!

[pokemonster]

How is Luke Stanich, a 3rd year guy at Lehigh, wrestling against all these super young high schoolers?

[Hammerlock3]

13 minutes ago, pokemonster said:

How is Luke Stanich, a 3rd year guy at Lehigh, wrestling against all these super young high schoolers?

do you really not know or are you trying to saying something through a question?

[lisa morales]

Meaning Stanich was 14 as a freshman at Lehigh.  

[Pinnacle]

The answer might be PJ Duke and that we just don't understand just how good he is right now. 

[lu_alum]

1 hour ago, pokemonster said:

How is Luke Stanich, a 3rd year guy at Lehigh, wrestling against all these super young high schoolers?

He just completed his 2nd year at Lehigh.  Hard to imagine he was an 19-year old true frosh when he earned AA at 125 in 2024.

[D3 for LU]

Comparison bout... in Luke S. true frosh season, he met Jax Forrest in the 125 finals (Edinboro Open?) It was tied in reg... Luke went for it in the end, but Jax got the TD and NF. (I think it was 8-1, but I'm not totally sure. Let me check Boomer's DB.)

D3

Edited 11 hours ago by D3 for LU

[D3 for LU]

It was Lock Haven open... the DB doesn't show that he lost to Forrest, though that was count as a loss.

D3

[Truzzcat]

32 minutes ago, Pinnacle said:

The answer might be PJ Duke and that we just don't understand just how good he is right now. 

should have lost his finals match just now.

[lu_alum]

5 minutes ago, Truzzcat said:

should have lost his finals match just now.

Agree.  Should have started as 1-0 Miller instead of 4-0 Duke.  Step out preceded that 4-point throw.

[BAC]

I dunno about "should have lost."  Maybe in the Kolat "let's rescore the match in a back room after its over" era but not today.  Coaches could've challenged it but didn't.  Duke also wrestled defensively to sit on his lead, which wouldn't have happened had he not had a lead. 

Regardless, Miller pushed him.  Not many guys can score on Duke.

[Truzzcat]

6 minutes ago, BAC said:

I dunno about "should have lost."  Maybe in the Kolat "let's rescore the match in a back room after its over" era but not today.  Coaches could've challenged it but didn't.  Duke also wrestled defensively to sit on his lead, which wouldn't have happened had he not had a lead. 

Regardless, Miller pushed him.  Not many guys can score on Duke.

showed the first chink in his armor that I've noticed. His feet seem a bit slow. Domestically Melvin may honestly be the only guy that can exploit that though I do not see Yianni or James green picking his ankles. I dont think there is anyone junior or senior that can go upper body or whizzer seat belt with him. Definitely surprising to see both Rodideau and Melvin push him a bit I still think he makes it to final x against Yianni though. I will say I think if he was pushing the issue melvin would have gotten hit for attention because he was clearing ties and circling as soon as he did not get that underhook to go cross pick.

[Pinnacle]

1 hour ago, BAC said:

I dunno about "should have lost."  Maybe in the Kolat "let's rescore the match in a back room after its over" era but not today.  Coaches could've challenged it but didn't.  Duke also wrestled defensively to sit on his lead, which wouldn't have happened had he not had a lead. 

Regardless, Miller pushed him.  Not many guys can score on Duke.

This.

Plus, when was his last loss to a non top 3 American? Got to be a while.

 

 

[pokemonster]

3 hours ago, Hammerlock3 said:

do you really not know or are you trying to saying something through a question?

I was being a tad tongue in cheek but I really am confused about how old these wrestlers are. Every bracket I'm like wtf, they're __ years old? How is this person wrestling this person for age world teams when one is halfway through college and the other is halfway through high school. I think one is a young phenom about to take over only to find out they're 20. Seems absurd.

[Ched64]

7 hours ago, Truzzcat said:

1. Jax/Marcus: Jax jumped levels which is insane to say because he was already so good. Marcus won the last one it was 8-1 really 4-1 yolo lat drop by jax at the end. Jax obviously is much better than he was then but I cant say he beats Marcus with any confidence.

2. PJ/Dee: Slight lean to PJ but not enough to separate them.

3. Bo: I don't think he is as good as these guys he just does not have the same body of work against elite guys.

Still a ways to go but that kid PJ wrestled in the finals, Melvin Miller, is still just a sophomore.  He is lightning quick and gave Duke all he wanted.  70k is a big weight for a 16 year old to impose himself on much more mature opponents.  Very impressive run to the Finals. He might just make that list in the next year.

[Hammerlock3]

38 minutes ago, pokemonster said:

I was being a tad tongue in cheek but I really am confused about how old these wrestlers are. Every bracket I'm like wtf, they're __ years old? How is this person wrestling this person for age world teams when one is halfway through college and the other is halfway through high school. I think one is a young phenom about to take over only to find out they're 20. Seems absurd.

well just combine the fact that its an age group event with the fact that some kids are held back and some aren't along with the fact that some people have good "fargo birthdays" and some have terrible ones...and all of a sudden you've got some match ups that don't seem like they make sense but actually do. 

[SocraTease]

4 hours ago, D3 for LU said:

Comparison bout... in Luke S. true frosh season, he met Jax Forrest in the 125 finals (Edinboro Open?) It was tied in reg... Luke went for it in the end, but Jax got the TD and NF. (I think it was 8-1, but I'm not totally sure. Let me check Boomer's DB.)

D3

here's the match, which blaze won 

 

[SocraTease]

and a folkstyle match 

 

[BAC]

3 hours ago, SocraTease said:

here's the match, which blaze won 

I think he was talking about something else.  He's referring to a folkstyle match between Luke Stanich (non Lilledahl) and Jax Forrest in an open tournament a couple seasons ago (in early 2024).  Here's the match:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yfyuxGo3lw

It was Stanich's true freshman year at Lehigh, and he went on to take 4th at NCAAs.  Forrest would've been a sophomore in high school at the time, albeit an older sophomore (probably 17).