Takedown Report

2024-25 Preseason National High School Wrestling Rankings: Final Update

Several states have already hit the mats, but the high school wrestling season gets underway in earnest after the Thanksgiving holiday; check out the final update to our preseason national wrestling rankings
By Billy Buckheit, Nov. 26th.
We’re here—the 2024-2025 high school wrestling season is officially underway! Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Texas have been active for a few weeks already. Illinois has joined them with a few events before Thanksgiving. Following the holiday break, every state in the country will kick off their season, except for New Jersey, which begins in mid-December.
With our final edition of the rankings before things kick off, we’ve narrowed it down to one wrestler per team, per weight. Additionally, we’ve removed Valiant Prep wrestlers since they don’t compete during the regular season. They will be added back in come March when they return to the mats in an official capacity.
The Walsh Ironman takes place next weekend (Dec. 6-7). The Ironman is widely regarded as the most challenging high school tournament in the country. It promises to deliver a ton of excitement and is sure to shake up these carefully cultivated rankings.
We say “carefully cultivated” with all the humility possible. We conduct an incredible amount of research and maintain detailed records on not just every wrestler in our rankings, but also every wrestler on our radar—probably 60 to 70 at each weight class. This level of research and record-keeping allows us to be highly accurate.
Instead of speculating or vaguely remembering results, we always have every match right in front of us. This wealth of data enables us to fine-tune the rankings. We can explain every placement. These rankings are not randomly thrown together; there’s a rationale behind where every wrestler is ranked.
One big win shouldn’t—and won’t—erase a series of bad losses. Similarly, a single bad loss doesn’t necessarily cancel out a string of significant victories. National rankings are always subject to change, as upsets are a constant factor. That’s where our detailed record-keeping comes into play.
Because we document every match for each wrestler, it’s easy for us to compare multiple athletes side by side and arrive at the most logical rankings order based on all outcomes—not just recent ones. Of course, recent results take precedence, but as we mentioned, a wrestler’s past record doesn’t disappear due to one new result, whether it’s positive or negative.
Our next update will come before Ironman. Once we have the seeds for the Ironman and the Dan Gable Donnybrook, which also takes place next weekend, we’ll make any necessary changes to weight classes. While we’ve seen lineups for many of the top teams, we know adjustments will be needed over the first few weeks of the season. … more at … https://www.si.com/high-school/wrestling/2024-25-preseason-national-high-school-wrestling-rankings-final-update-01jdnte76p05

December 3, 2024 - Posted by The TakeDown Report | Uncategorized | news, sports, wrestling