2026 Escape the Rock

2026 Escape The Rock Pre-Seeds

50 Nationally Ranked Wrestlers!

This year's field at the Escape The Rock will feature an incredible 50 nationally ranked wrestlers! Here's a breakdown of some of the weight classes you'll really want to keep an eye on over the weekend: 107 pounds, which features six top-20 ranked guys including a potential Beast of the East finals rematch between #19 Evan Cies and #10 Max Quarry. 114 pounds, that boasts four nationally ranked competitors including #2 Justin Farnsworth and returning PIAA champion #18 Braiden Lotier. 133 pounds has the potential for Beast of The East champion #10 Vincenzo Anello and Powerade champion #12 Will Detar to meet in the finals. 145 pounds has a potential Beast of the East finals rematch between #2 Tyler DeKraker and #5 Matthew O'Neill as well as three other wrestlers ranked in the top-10 nationally. 189 and 285 pounds are two other incredible weight classes you'll want to be tuned in for all weekend long!

Potential Tsarni-Sumpolec Round 4

#8 Salah Tsarni and #9 Dominic Sumpolec met three times in the month of December, interestingly, all in the major in-season tournaments so far this season. Their first meeting was in the round of 16 at Ironman last month, where Sumpolec won a marathon match 2-1 in ultimate tiebreaker. Tsarni battled through the backside to finish fourth at 190 pounds at Ironman while Sumpolec would finish fifth. 

Watch Sumpolec Win at Ironman

The next meeting between these two almost never was, as Tsarni needed a very last second takedown against U17 World bronze medalist #10 Tanner Hodgins in the semifinals of the Beast of the East to defeat the Oklahoma State commit, 8-6. Tsarni would meet his Notre Dame-Green Pond rival in the finals in a match that Sumpolec went out to a 7-0 lead heading into the third period before Tsarni picked up a second stall warning and a takedown but it ultimately wasn't enough, as Sumpolec won the 190-pound Beast title 8-4.

Watch Sumpolec Win The Beast Over Tsarni

The most recent meeting between these two was in the Powerade finals. Tsarni seemed very prepared and ready for the third meeting as he came out with a high pace and physical hand fight to force two stall warnings and a technical violation on Sumpolec to take a 2-1 lead heading into the third period. Sumpolec gave the escape to Tsarni to extend it to 3-1 and as Sumpolec pursued, Tsarni took advantage and iced the match with a takedown to win the 189-pound Powerade title and cut the series to 2-1 in favor of Sumpolec. 

Watch Tsarni Defeat Sumpolec In The Powerade Finals

Round four between these two could be on the menu for this weekend, however, aforementioned Tanner Hodgins is the three seed at this weight and will certainly be ready to spoil the party against Sumpolec in the semifinals and get a rematch with Tsarni. 

Another Chance For Dekraker-O'Neill Insanity

#2 Tyler DeKraker and #5 Matthew O'Neill met in the 144-pound finals of the Beast of the East last month in an unbelievable bout. If you haven't had the opportunity to watch this match yet, I highly recommend taking the time to do so as you will not be disappointed. In that match, these two kept getting in a very nuanced position as Dekraker would fire up to his feet from underneath as O'Neill would throw his leg in, which resulted in five stall warnings being issued by the official between the two and ultimately tying the match at 2 to force sudden victory. The bout came down to a reversal to nearfall for DeKraker with short time to go in ultimate tiebreaker for the 7-2 win and the Beast title. If we see this match again this weekend, I expect DeKraker to try to avoid the mat wrestling as much as possible and try to force the action on their feet, which could also play right into O'Neill's scrambling game. Keep an eye out for Powerade finalist #6 Weston Borgers, #8 Greyson Music, and #9 Robert Duffy who are all also in this bracket. 

Watch Dekraker and O'Neill's Wild Beast Final

Nine Of The Top 40 Nationally Ranked Teams

An awesome team race could be in the making this weekend as nine out of the top 40 nationally ranked teams in the Flo 40 National High School Wrestling Team Rankings will be competing at the Escape The Rock this weekend. Of the 77 total teams competing, we will see nationally ranked #3 Blair Academy, #4 Lake Highland Prep, #6 Malvern Prep, #9 Christian Brothers Academy, #10 Wyoming Seminary, #17 Bishop McDevitt, #19 St. Joseph Regional, #23 Notre Dame-Green Pond, #37 Bethlehem Catholic all in the field sporting plenty of nationally ranked wrestlers and all battling it out in the team race for the title.

#5 Dale Corbin vs. #6 Keanu Dillard

At 139 pounds, we could see an Ironman third-place bout rematch between #5 Dale Corbin and #6 Keanu Dillard. In that bout, it was Corbin who pulled off the upset over Dillard with an escape in the ultimate tiebreaker period for the 2-1 win and the bronze medal at Ironman. Since then, Lehigh commit Dillard went on to win the 138-pound Beast of the East title while Corbin finished fifth in a loaded Powerade bracket, where his only two losses came to then #1 Jax Forrest and #2 Tyler DeKraker. If these two were to meet again this weekend, I expect it to be very tight and competitive once again, however, Dillard is a U17 World bronze medalist and three-time PIAA state champion who was coming off of injury. He is very capable of making the necessary adjustments to flip the result and I think Corbin will be game for whatever he brings this time around. Also, watch out for #7 Tyler Traves, #8 Camden Baum, and #18 Yandel Morales at this weight. 

Watch Corbin Get The Win Over Dillard At Ironman

Powerade Finals Rematches at 152 and 285

Two more awesome potential rematches we could see from earlier in the season could come at 152 and 285 pounds. At 152 pounds, #3 Charlie DeSena and #17 Jason Dube are the top two seeds and just met a couple of weeks ago in the 152 Powerade finals. In that match, we saw some incredible exchanges and almost-scores but in the end it was DeSena taking it 2-1 in tiebreakers over a very game Dube. Dube will likely have to go through #18 Michael Turi, who was third in that Powerade bracket, to set up the rematch for the 152-pound title this weekend. 

Watch DeSena and Dube's Powerade Final

#6 Christian Alvarez and #8 Lukas Zalota had a war in the Powerade finals two weeks ago. Zalota, a Beast of the East champion this season, went out to a 5-1 lead early in the second period off of a first period takedown and reversal in the second. From there, Alvarez seemed to really settle into the match and did a nice job of putting Zalota under pressure in the handfight from neutral and forced Zalota into a diving shot where Alvarez was able to get his hips on him and get the go behind late in the second period to tie the match at 5. Alvarez got his escape early in the third and was able to thwart off the leg attacks of Zalota to win the match 6-5 and win the 285-pound Powerade title. The rematch could be electric between these two, but don't overlook guys like #12 Cael Mielnik, #14 Anderson Palian, and #15 Isaiah Taylor who were third, fifth, and sixth in that Powerade bracket respectively.

Watch Alvarez and Zalota Meet In The Powerade Finals