📬 Update (Feb 28): Regionals are wrapping up, and we're deep in the data! A lot has shifted. Wrestlers changed weight classes, some went the IKWF route instead of IESA, and a few new names popped up after dominating their regionals. We're crunching it all now to put together our first true rankings for 95lb through 275lb. Expect the full rankings by Monday evening, March 2nd.
Last year, in 2025, we put together the very first version of our IESA rankings. We started with AA, then added A. And honestly? Putting these rankings together is both one of the most challenging and most fun things we do all year.
Let me explain why.
Why IESA Rankings Are Tricky
Our primary data source is public tournament data. Sounds straightforward, right? Here's the thing though. Some schools don't have any public tournament data for the year. Zero. That means a kid could be an absolute hammer, just mowing through everyone at practice and in duals, and to us, they're completely invisible.
Then there's the IKWF factor. Some kids will pop up in IKWF tournaments, but we have no idea if they'll actually wrestle IESA. And even if they do, we often don't know what school they attend. It's usually not until regionals that we finally have enough accurate data to figure out a few key things:
- Are they wrestling IKWF or IESA? (Though some kids still wrestle both at regionals, which keeps things interesting.)
- What school do they actually belong to?
- What weight class are they going to settle into?
For some wrestlers, regionals is literally the first time they show up in our data set at all. Last year, we had a few kids who were total ghosts until they completely ran through their regional bracket. You can imagine our reaction. Where did this kid come from?
Why We Start at 95 Pounds
Quick note on this. We only rank from 95lb to 275lb. There are two reasons.
First, this is a ton of work. And I mean a ton. Each weight class takes real time and effort to research, cross-reference data, and get right. We'd love to cover every weight class, but there are only so many hours in the day.
Second, and more importantly, these are the weight classes that translate directly to varsity spots in high school. The lowest high school varsity weight is 106lb, and we consistently see 95lb and 100lb state placers grab those 106lb varsity spots once they get to high school. So these rankings give you a real preview of the kids who'll be competing for those roster spots down the road.
How the Rankings Actually Work
That said, we've taken every piece of data we can get our hands on and run it through a multi-stage algorithm. Here's what goes into it:
- All public tournament data. This is the foundation of everything.
- Human input. Sometimes we know things that aren't in the public data. Maybe a kid dominated every dual all season, or picked up a big win that didn't make it into the tournament results. We factor that in.
- Tournament placements. And not all tournaments are created equal. Winning a 25-team tournament carries more weight than a 5-team event. Makes sense, right?
- How they're winning. Falls and tech falls count for more. A kid who's pinning everyone is telling us something different than a kid squeaking out 3-2 decisions.
- Head-to-head matches. If two kids met on the mat, that result matters. A lot.
- Human manual tweaking and 3rd party corrections. After the algorithm does its thing, we go through the results and make adjustments by hand. Sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story. On top of that, coaches, parents, and fans submit corrections through our site, and we review every single one. Fresh eyes catch things we miss.
- Non-IESA results for top wrestlers. For the kids who rank highly through steps 1-6, we then dig into their IKWF tournament results too. The top wrestlers typically compete in both throughout the year, so it gives us a fuller picture.
Where Things Stand Right Now
These are the wrestlers who stand out to us so far. A quick note on what the labels mean:
Notable means the wrestler has a very strong resume and will likely be ranked once we finalize everything.
Honorable Mention means they're showing well overall, but we either need more matches or more data to confidently slot them into the rankings.
This weekend, we have a bunch of conference matches coming up. We'll update and tweak our notable and honorable mentions based on what we see. Then, after regionals, we'll put together the first official set of rankings once we have a full and reliable data set to work with.
Think of this as the rough sketch before the painting. We're getting closer, but we're not quite ready to put a frame on it yet.
Help Us Get It Right
Here's the thing we always want to emphasize. We don't pretend to see everything. If you know something we missed, or if we got something wrong, we genuinely want to hear about it. You can suggest corrections or additions to the rankings by clicking the "Make Correction" link at the bottom of any weight class ranking. Seriously, use it. The more eyes on this, the better the rankings get for everyone.
Tournaments Used for Pre-Rankings
Here are the tournaments we pulled data from for these pre-rankings. We don't utilize JV tournaments, just to be clear. Also worth noting: the bigger the tournament, the more impact it has on the rankings. Some schools didn't appear in any tournaments, or only showed up in a single event, which made it really tough to fully assess their wrestlers' resumes.
| Date | Tournament | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| 12/13/2025 | Redbird Invitational | 5 |
| 12/20/2025 | Homer Jr High Invitational | 25 |
| 12/20/2025 | Tiger Invitational (14th Annual) | 9 |
| 12/29/2025 | Mason Hada Memorial Tournament | 21 |
| 1/3/2026 | CCMS Coalers Invitational | 16 |
| 1/3/2026 | Jon Davis Middle School Tournament | 14 |
| 1/3/2026 | Litchfield MS "The Newk" | 7 |
| 1/3/2026 | Tyler Johnson Memorial Tournament | 23 |
| 1/10/2026 | Buehler-Giuliano Memorial | 16 |
| 1/10/2026 | Hawthorn Eaglemania | 17 |
| 1/10/2026 | Geneseo Middle School Tournament | 13 |
| 1/10/2026 | JMS Crimson Wrestling Invite | 22 |
| 1/10/2026 | Olympia Middle School Invitational | 25 |
| 1/17/2026 | Matthews Invitational | 11 |
| 1/17/2026 | 5th Annual Tyler Henken Memorial | 7 |
| 1/17/2026 | EP Middle School Tournament | 12 |
| 1/24/2026 | Genoa-Kingston MS Tournament | 12 |
| 1/24/2026 | Panther Invite | 14 |
| 1/24/2026 | Rick Amy Invite | 14 |
| 1/24/2026 | Byron Middle School Tournament | 9 |
| 1/24/2026 | Caruso Invite | 15 |
| 1/31/2026 | Dale Keith | 19 |
| 1/31/2026 | Kevin Powers Invitational | 8 |
| 1/31/2026 | Orion Middle School Tournament | 18 |
| 2/7/2026 | Bulldog Invite | 16 |
| 2/7/2026 | Deer Path 51st Annual Wrestling Tourney | 13 |
| 2/14/2026 | Glenwood Middle School Invite | 21 |
| 2/21/2026 | MSMSAC Wrestling Tournament | 6 |
| 2/21/2026 | SDEAA Conference Tournament | 10 |
| 2/21/2026 | Lakeside Conference Tournament | 5 |
| 2/21/2026 | SMSC Conference Tournament | 8 |
| 2/21/2026 | PMSC Wrestling Tourny | 6 |
| 2/21/2026 | 46th Annual Canton Ingersoll Invite | 15 |
| 2/21/2026 | Northwest Suburban Grade School | 9 |
| 2/21/2026 | LeRoy JH Panther Invitational | 21 |
Stay tuned. Rankings are coming soon.