NCAA 125lb Rankings

Willie Saylor on October 16, 2012, 6:00am | More Posts

Rank	Year	Name	School	Last
1	SO	Jesse Delgado	Illinois	2
2	SO	Nico Megaludis	Penn State	4
3	FR	Nahshon Garrett	Cornell	6
4	JR	Alan Waters	Missouri	1
5	SR	Trent Sprenkle	ND State	8
6	SR	Matt McDonough	Iowa	3
7	SR	Jarrod Garnett	Virginia Tech	5
8	FR	Nathan Kraisser	North Carolina	7
9	SO	Tyler Cox	Wyoming	12
10	SR	Matt Snyder	Virginia	9
11	JR	David Thorn	Minnesota	15
12	SR	Christian Cullinan	Central Michigan	10
13	FR	Josh Martinez	Air Force	11
14	JR	Sean Boyle	Michigan	13
15	SR	Nikko Triggas	Ohio State	14
16	SR	Mark Rappo	Penn	16
17	SR	Steve Bonanno	Hofstra	17
18	JR	Dom Parisi	App. State	NR
19	SO	Nick Soto	Chattanooga	19
20	FR	Jade Rauser	Utah Valley	20

Christian Pyles, College Analyst

An apology for getting these out late. I wrapped up my end of season awards before I did these, and my wife and I had our 2^nd little child 8 days ahead of schedule which threw the timing for these off.

These rankings will be different from a lot of others in that we are not simply going to regurgitate the NCAA placements as rankings. Rather, we are going to rank still considering guys entire bodies of work from the season as opposed to presenting the final 3 days in March as The Gospel as it pertains to rankings.

So basically the rankings are still considering the wrestlers entire body of work. You’ll notice that there is heavy pull from the NCAA results, but they are not the end all be all for these. These will also serve nicely as a “preview” for next years rankings.

If you think that the final rankings should be the exact NCAA placements, that’s fine and anybody can look those up at anytime. These won’t be that though.

I will say our Pre-NCAA rankings fared quite well against the NCAA seeds placing 62 of 80 All Americans compared to the seeds 59. That success gave me some faith that the system we’ve been ranking with is fairly effective and accurate.

I know I normally give the reasoning behind most of the ranking changes, but with so much movement, it would be an insanely long read (even by my standards). As always I’m more than happy to answer any questions/complaints you might have.

Email/Tweet your questions, comments, complaints to Christian.Pyles@flowrestling.org

107097 views

Updated on May 20, 2013, 10:44pm

132 comments

Christian Pyles 2 months ago

Christian how is your baby doing? Back to wrestling, who ever get Klimara in the first round will not be happy. From all the wrestlers I have seen this year from Jan to now Eddie has improved the most. There is a story for Flo. Who has come out of no where this year. Has to be done before Nationals so we can keep a eye on those wrestlers.

Fine, thank you for asking!

Eddie is a tough customer, and the improvements he's made this year are evident. I see him turning heads at NCAA's as well.

Mike Tognetti 2 months ago

Christian how is your baby doing? Back to wrestling, who ever get Klimara in the first round will not be happy. From all the wrestlers I have seen this year from Jan to now Eddie has improved the most. There is a story for Flo. Who has come out of no where this year. Has to be done before Nationals so we can keep a eye on those wrestlers.

Christian Pyles 3 months ago

how is bonanno knocked out of your rankings

I mean he's 14-10. Zero wins over a ranked wrestler.

Being a returning All American doesn't make you impervious to being removed from the rankings. 125 is fairly deep this year, other guys have simply done more than Steve this year.

Rich Perez 3 months ago

how is bonanno knocked out of your rankings

Ryan Bean 3 months ago

"Guess which guy is going to be looking up on the podium in March? "
reply
I don't know, he is a lot taller than his competitors :)

Jammen Jammenz 3 months ago

The latest RPI puts to rest any debate about Waters level of competition.

1 125 Alan Waters Missouri
2 125 Matt McDonough Iowa
3 125 Jesse Delgado Illinois
4 125 Nathan Kraisser North Carolina
5 125 Martin (Josh) Martinez Air Force
6 125 Jarrod Garnett Virginia Tech
7 125 Nicholas Megaludis Penn State
8 125 Matthew Snyder Virginia
9 125 Christian Cullinan Central Mich.
10 125 Nahshon Garrett Cornell

David Macauley 3 months ago

Three of the four top guys are dreaming about winning. They don't sleep on their backs. Maybe they don't sleep at all. They are running extra miles in the snow and slush and staying late, very late, at practice. Arriving early in the morning. Before the morning. They are visualizing take-downs. They are hungry. A take-down is a take-away. One guy fears losing. He is thinking about defensive moves, counters and ways to stall. He has been at the top but suspects that others want to take it away. And knows that they want it more than him. His coach preaches fear and being tough but the other guys know it is about technique and drive and, yes, joy (rather than fear). Guess which guy is going to be looking up on the podium in March?

IowaGuy 3 months ago

McDonough's not on the list because he doesn't have enough matches against D1 wrestlers to qualify. There were a bunch of non-competitive duals where Brands gave him the night off and let Gurule go instead.

David Macauley 3 months ago

There should be a temporary and tentative resolution first at the Big Tens where three of the top four will compete. Here is the NCAA's RPI (Rating Percentage Index) rankings. Interesting who does not appear on the list.:

1 125 Jarrod Garnett Virginia Tech
2 125 Nathan Kraisser North Carolina
3 125 Martin Martinez Air Force
4 125 Nicholas Megaludis Penn State
5 125 Jesse Delgado Illinois
6 125 Matthew Snyder Virginia
7 125 Jerome Robinson Old Dominion
8 125 Nahshon Garrett Cornell
9 125 Trent Sprenkle North Dakota St.
10 125 Tyler Cox Wyoming
11 125 Nick Soto Chattanooga
12 125 Christian Cullinan Central Michigan
13 125 Jade Rauser Utah Valley
14 125 Camden Eppert Purdue
15 125 Edward Klimara Oklahoma State
16 125 Nikko Triggas Ohio State
17 125 Shane Gentry Maryland
18 125 Sean Boyle Michigan
19 125 Dominick Malone Northwestern
20 125 Tyler Iwamura CSU Bakersfield
21 125 Mark Rappo Pennsylvania
22 125 Dominic Parisi Appalachian St.
23 125 Robert Rehm Lock Haven
24 125 David Terao American
25 125 Evan Silver Stanford
26 125 Patrick Prada Navy
27 125 Eric Montoya Campbell
28 125 Joseph Langel Rutgers
29 125 Steve Mitchell Kent St.
30 125 Brenan Lyon Michigan St.
31 125 Jared Germaine Eastern Michigan
32 125 Steve Bonanno Hofstra
33 125 Ben Willeford Cleveland St.

Jamie Sperrazza 3 months ago

Nothing against Waters, but he wasn't an All-American last year and he never wrestled Nico or Jesse this year. He shouldn't be ranked higher than 4th. Jesse should be first, then McD, then Nico, then Waters. Maybe he should be 3rd over Nico since he beat McD and Nico lost to him this year, but he shouldn't jump to number 1 over Jesse. Of course, this will all be resolved soon enough. NCAA semi's should be awesome.

Christian Pyles 3 months ago

Klimara from Okie State has been wrestling some really tough guys close. Hoping this youngin can turn the corner and get some steam up for the NCAAs!

He has looked really solid. Looks ready to pull an upset or two, just running out of time to do it.

3 months ago

Klimara from Okie State has been wrestling some really tough guys close. Hoping this youngin can turn the corner and get some steam up for the NCAAs!

nccoachie 3 months ago

Calling it... Delgado 2013 #125 NCAA D1 Champion.

if the seeds go like this you could be right

majorteague 3 months ago

Does anyone know the weigh in schedule at NCAA's? Does the weigh in for the Qtrs in the morning serve for the whole day? Do finalist weigh in with the medal matches on Saturday morn?

Christian Pyles 3 months ago

I'm still not clear how exactly losses or, alternatively, wins over redshirts (e.g., Clark or Zanetta) or graduates (both happen in open tournaments, exhibitions or non-folkstyle matches) factor in here. Neither category of competitor is considered in the national rankings itself because they are pre- or post- ncaa competition, and it is often only happenstance when someone faces them (e.g., Megaludis' loss to Zanetta this year .. though he beat him last year when it counted for seedings and dual points). Sometimes, too, they wrestle at non-normal weights. Or they wrestle (or don't wrestle) teammates with whom they are very familiar: e.g., Wright narrowly beats MacIntosh or McDonough doesn't wrestle Clark in competition. These matches are interesting measures of ability but don't seem very relevant to rankings among eligible wrestlers in the current season. Or am I missing something?

They're matches against college wrestlers. Why wouldn't they count? We count losses to D2 or D3 matches, why wouldn't we count matches against redshirts? We factor in when they beat those guys, and we factor in when they lose. Just because someone won't be wrestling in the post season doesn't mean wrestling them should not count at all.

David Macauley 3 months ago

I'm still not clear how exactly losses or, alternatively, wins over redshirts (e.g., Clark or Zanetta) or graduates (both happen in open tournaments, exhibitions or non-folkstyle matches) factor in here. Neither category of competitor is considered in the national rankings itself because they are pre- or post- ncaa competition, and it is often only happenstance when someone faces them (e.g., Megaludis' loss to Zanetta this year .. though he beat him last year when it counted for seedings and dual points). Sometimes, too, they wrestle at non-normal weights. Or they wrestle (or don't wrestle) teammates with whom they are very familiar: e.g., Wright narrowly beats MacIntosh or McDonough doesn't wrestle Clark in competition. These matches are interesting measures of ability but don't seem very relevant to rankings among eligible wrestlers in the current season. Or am I missing something?

Greff Fondacerro 3 months ago

125 Alan Waters (Missouri) over Matt McDonough (Iowa) Dec 3-0. This should likely wreck a little havoc on the rankings.
Mcdounaugh is no longer 31 in anyones book and neither is any other Hawkeye now

David Macauley 3 months ago

125 Alan Waters (Missouri) over Matt McDonough (Iowa) Dec 3-0. This should likely wreck a little havoc on the rankings.

Master Shake 3 months ago

Calling it... Delgado 2013 #125 NCAA D1 Champion.

Rich Perez 3 months ago

bonanno out of the rankings?

Greff Fondacerro 3 months ago

Perry? Who is that? I propose the "bet test". Who would you bet on in the finals or in a single or final match? Who would you bet for $1,000 or $10,000 will win a championship? Would you, for example, bet on McDonough or Delgado or Megaludis? Or Dake or Taylor ... or Ramos or Steiber? Or Kilgore or Wright? Etc. This should get folks to sober up g-damn quick. I will bet folks out there if you are up for it. Otherwise, its complete BS
so we can both have crimminal records ..no thank you

C J 3 months ago

No love for Rauser? He's having a very solid season and just beat Martinez from Air Force.

Christian Pyles 3 months ago

Perry? Who is that? I propose the "bet test". Who would you bet on in the finals or in a single or final match? Who would you bet for $1,000 or $10,000 will win a championship? Would you, for example, bet on McDonough or Delgado or Megaludis? Or Dake or Taylor ... or Ramos or Steiber? Or Kilgore or Wright? Etc. This should get folks to sober up g-damn quick. I will bet folks out there if you are up for it. Otherwise, its complete BS.

What is the point of your hypothetical betting scenario?

David Macauley 3 months ago

Willie Saylor 3 months ago

the decision to keep McD #1 was the right one. Perry and McD are not in the same boat.

David Macauley 3 months ago

I agree that Christian generally does a very good job with a very difficult task (where not everyone is going to be satisfied). My questions usually concern the criteria for rankings.and their application. Sometimes these seem not always to be clear or transparent enough to me at least. and that, of course, can introduce some latitude for interpretation and controversy. With rankings, there are a range of possible criteria: some explicit (e.g., win/loss record) others more implicit, some patently subjective and others more objective (wins, losses, pins, tech falls etc). The issues get tricky but also interesting and worth engaging with the difficult decisions: whether to include matches against red shirt opponents or in preseason exhibitions, injuries, the level of competition in a particular weight class, when a wrestler goes up a weight temporarily to help out the team in a dual match, or even when he appears to get robbed by a bad referee decision and loses (e.g., Oliver in the finals last year?) and so forth. If we didn't all get to "weigh in" (to use the ritualistic wrestling image) regularly on these topics, we might feel less vicariously passionate about those teams and athletes we follow.

Greff Fondacerro 3 months ago

I first want to say that I am a big PSU fan and would like nothing more than to see Megaludis win it all this year. However, I think Christian is totally correct in keeping McDonough #1. I don't see any way you can put Delgado over Megaludis and even though the losses have been close McDonough has beaten Megaludis many times. #1 ranking in the 125 weight class should be the guy who has the highest probability of winning that weight. McDonough is the right bet here.

Now, I completely disagree with him being in the pound for pound. His lack of dominance made him questionable as to how high he was before the loss. I don't see how a loss to Delgado is any better than a loss to Wilps and McD right now has not had the chance to avenge that loss. I believe that Wright should be ahead of McDonough P4P right now. He has been way more dominate and his only loss was an exhibition which he has avenged with a 1st period fall. Their resumes are otherwise very similar. McDonough being on the list is a little off for me, but being above Maple and H Steiber in terms of the way they are currently wrestling is a little crazy.
Finally, all in all Christian does a great job and I don't see bias at all in his rankings
YOU COULD ARGUE THAT HE SHOULD BE #1 ON HERE BUT AS FAR AS P4P GOES NO WAY AND EVERYONE OUTSIDE OF IOWA (AND CHRISTIAN) AGREES. PLEASE PUT Q WHERE HE BELONGS AND REMOVE MATT THANK U

Ryan Bean 3 months ago

David Macauley 3 months ago

I see no plausible reason for giving much weight (if any) to losses against guys who are red-shirting or who have graduated. They are not considered in the current rankings. Why does a win or loss against Zanetta or Corey Clark matter? Or, put differently, how does it matter? Does the NCAA consider it in their seedings? Why, then, not consider wins or losses outside of the regular season? Or even in high school for that matter? (Btw: Megaludis also once beat Zanetta.) You indicate above that top ranking should not be given to being undefeated but also claim in the P4P that your preference is for including someone who is undefeated (hence an exclusion for Wright's exhibition loss). Some of things seem pretty arbitrary and selective as opposed to "objective".

Greff Fondacerro 3 months ago

Delgado just kicked McDonough's butt. It was pretty dominant from start to finish. He got into M's legs on deep shots and then finished multiple times. Also got back points on him
BUT HE IS STILL #1 GO FIGURE