Wrestling Rankings

www.iesaaawrestlingrankings.com

How we determined the Pre-Season and In Season Rankings

The second half of the season we will be much busier with school and we will try to keep up. But emails us with updates!

First, before anyone gets too excited or upset about these rankings, they are just a fun side project for a few college students and former wrestlers who used to wrestle in the IESA AA tournament. We are not being paid for this but thought it would be fun to generate more interest in kids wrestling.

We are only doing AA because that is where we wrestled. There are a ton of good A kids, so if someone wants to do this for A please do! Many A kids beat AA state placers and champs during the season in 2024 so we know they are good.

Second, we are using Track Wrestling to validate as much as we can. If a wrestler has an up to date profile it is easier to see what their weight is now or in their last tournament. We do go to tournaments to watch, so if we see a super impressive unranked wrestler beating ranked kids, or someone who isn’t ranked but is amazing, we will add them. But we can’t watch every tournament or match.

Third, we are using the 2024 IESA State Tournament results as the first place to rank wrestlers for this year. This is not always fair but as the season continues these rankings will become clearer.

We do not have a 65 lb ranking as we assume all of the 65 lbs from last year will move up to 70 but we will add a 65 later in the season.

We moved all 70ers to 75, all 75 to 80, then used Track to move the 80’s up. The default after 80 is to move each wrestler up two weight classes, and Track shows that this is accurate about 75% of the time. For the other 25% we looked at the weight on Track and the last tournament they wrestled. Some kids are up four weight classes, some one. We will do our best.

We tried to use summer wrestling success in tough tournaments as part of the rankings. Head to head matches count. Last years IESA state tournament results count. There are some good kids who placed in 2023 but didn’t make it back to state in 2024 but are 8th graders this year. We included some of them if they have had a strong off season of tournaments. There are some wrestlers who didn’t make it to state in 2024 but are having a spectacular spring, summer, and fall off-season beating many kids who placed in 2024. Kids can improve dramatically in one season as the head to head matchups show. We try to use data not opinion. Quality of wins count. A win over a state champ from Iowa this summer is more impressive than a lot wins in your middle school duals. We try to use data like that to rank.

We used number of wins at last years state tournament as one input to the rankings. 3 wins gets you a higher ranking than none. Placing in state two years in a row may get you a higher ranking. We looked at as much as possible.

We do look at common opponents where possible but if it’s not in track we may not know about it.

There are always a lot of first year wrestlers who make it to state. We don’t know who they are yet but will keep an eye out for them.

Some of the weights were easy to fill with 10 ranked wrestlers. Some have none. I know this does not make sense but two weights from 2024 state had all 8th graders in them. So there are no returning wrestlers for the two weight classes above. As the season progresses we will start to update the rankings. Again, this is not the NCAA rankings so cut us a little slack.

If your wrestler is not listed here and you can send us to a Track profile and point their wins we may have missed please do so. If a wrestler is at a weight that is different than what is listed here, please tell us. Try not to predict that they may drop a weight at the end of the season, we know that may happen. We want to rank based on current weight. Mostly to discourage weight dropping. If you study all of the place winners and champs over the years, most of them jumped up multiple weight classes from one year to the next, and wrestled the same weight all season. The ones who cut weight did not perform as well. It is a fact. Tell this to your wrestlers. Ask Levi Haines, David Carr, Carter Starocci, Keegan O’Toole, or the college greats who move up and dominate.

Interestingly enough, very few state champs over the years were undefeated through the season. Because they went to tough tournaments and wrestled tough kids. Which got them ready for a grueling state tournament. We reward the kids who wrestle the toughest kids as they will be ready for state.

We will do team rankings soon, and have a fun pound for pound ranking.

We will try to update these rankings again on January 1, so watch for that. And we will be setting up an Insta account.

Please email us with updated information on weights. Some kids have no activity on Track since the state tournament last year we do not know what they weigh. Not all dual meets are on Track. So, if one of your kids beats a ranked kid, send it to us. Video or otherwise. We need a picture of the score. If we catch anyone cheating or submitting false information, we will publish your name, your picture, and disqualify your wrestler from the rankings. Your team will not be ranked and we will call you out personally for public shaming. This is middle school wrestling everyone let’s teach the kids the honest way. The wrestling community has a code. Work hard, be humble when you win, have class when you lose, be honest, help your fellow wrestler, get good grades, be nice to all other kids, good sportsmanship with the refs and parents from the other teams, and most of all, have fun.

Step on to the mat

Step on to the mat

www.iesaaawrestlingrankings.com

Step on to the mat

Step on to the mat

www.iesaaawrestlingrankings.com

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