The Scuffle and Midlands always cause all sorts of chaos in the NCAA rankings. We sifted through the rubble of two weeks worth of battles and discovered who made the biggest gains. Below, are the wrestlers who made the most of their opportunities over the holidays.

2018-19 NCAA D1 Rankings

125 Pounds

#16 Connor Brown, Wisconsin +5

Brown beat Illinois' Travis Piotrowski at Midlands and took advantage of some open spots in the bottom half of the top 20 as guys fell out due to losses. Brown went from unranked to #16.

#13 Vito Arujau, Cornell +4

Arujau is enjoying his new weight class, even if he might not be enjoying the weight cut. He went undefeated in Florida and set up an Ivy League rivalry with Princeton's Pat Glory, who could see Arujau in a dual meet, at the EIWA Championships and potentially at NCAAs. 

#17 Cole Verner, Wyoming +4

Verner had a productive set of dual meets in Florida and at the Cowboy Shootout. Despite losing to Rayvon Foley and Arujau, a win over Sean Fausz in South Florida and two more back home in Laramie got Verner in at #17 after starting the holidays unranked. 

133 Pounds

#17 Brandon Paetzell, Lehigh +4

Paetzell's victory over Missouri's John Erneste vaulted him from outside to inside the top 20.

#18 Matt Schmitt, West Virginia +3

Schmitt went undefeated in Florida, beating Cam Sykora and moving from the bubble to #18 in the process.

141 Pounds

#14 AC Headlee, North Carolina +5

Headlee beat Mitch McKee, who had himself been rocketing up the rankings this year, to climb five spots in the top 20 from #19 to #14.

Watch Headlee beat Army's Corey Shiet at the Cowboy Shootout:

#12 Sam Turner, Wyoming +3

Turner cooled down the red-hot Headlee at the Cowboy Shootout and catapulted himself from #15 to #12.

#11 Sam Krivus, Virginia +3

Krivus got a boost when Turner moved up thanks to a victory over Turner from earlier in the season. 

149 Pounds 

#5 Kaden Gfeller, Oklahoma State +6

Gfeller had perhaps the most impressive jump of anyone, staying undefeated and moving into the top five. Wins over Mitch Finsilver and Russell Rohlfing at the Southern Scuffle helped G earn his new ranking, up six spots from #11. 

Watch Gfeller win his second Scuffle title over Finesilver:

#15 Requir van der Merwe, Stanford +6

RVDM also did some damage at the Scuffle, beating Rohlfing, Jared Prince and Matt Zovistoski to go from unranked to #15.

#17 Khristian Olivas, Fresno State +4

Olivas repped the Central Valley well at Midlands, beating Josh Maruca and Henry Pohlmeyer to earn a top 20 spot for the Bulldogs.

157 Pounds

#13 Christian Pagdilao, Arizona State +5

Beating two-time All-American Alec Pantaleo at home in a dual meet was a boon to NCAA qualifier Christian Pagdilao's ranking. He rose from #18 to #13.

#16 Zac Carson, Ohio +5

Carson beat an All-American Paul Fox on his way to a fourth-place finish at the Southern Scuffle and a ranking for the first time since the preseason.

#17 Logan Parks, Central Michigan +4

Parks beat Larry Early in a dual meet after Early had earned himself a top-five ranking by beating NCAA runner-up Hayden Hidlay.

165 Pounds

#5 Josh Shields, Arizona State +7

Arizona State could have another big points scorer in Josh Shields, as he moves up seven slots and into the top five with wins over Bryce Steiert and Logan Massa in consecutive weeks. 

#2 Alex Marinelli, Iowa +2

There wasn't much more room to rise but Marinelli climbed two spots up from fourth thanks to his win over Evan Wick in the finals of the 56th Midlands. 

#16 Jonathan Viruet, Brown +2

A win over Joey Gunther at Midlands was enough to move Viruet up two spots. 

174 Pounds

#11 Brit Wilson, Northern Illinois +8

Wilson made huge gains for the Huskies thanks to a third-place finish at Midlands and a wide-open weight class. He climbs all the way up from 19 to 11.

#13 Kimball Bastian, Utah Valley +4

Bastian beat Dylan Lydy to give himself a boost in one of the more volatile weight divisions. 

#17 Matt Finesilver, Duke +4

A fifth-place finish in a loaded Scuffle bracket gave the largest of Duke's four Finesilver brothers a top 20 ranking for the first time since November. 

Watch Finesilver nab fifth-place at the Southern Scuffle:

184 Pounds

#15 Dylan Wisman, Missouri +3

Not a lot of significant movement at 184, at least over the holidays, although Wisman did well for himself, knocking off All-American Max Dean in Florida and pulling himself up from 18th to 15th.

197 Pounds

#12 Tom Sleigh, Virginia Tech +4

Sleigh was the biggest mover in one of the most confounding weight classes, rising four slots up from #16, thanks to three top 20 victories at the Southern Scuffle. 

285 Pounds

#7 Mason Parris, Michigan +14

Mason Parris knows how to make an entrance. The true freshman had his redshirt torn off in one of the most impressive ways possible, beating the returning NCAA third-placer and #1 ranked wrestler, Amar Dhesi, in his first varsity dual meet. Parris has a few losses already this year, but not enough to keep him from making his top 20 debut all the way up at #7. 

#18 Conan Jennings, Northwestern +3

Jennings beat Parris at Midlands and got a boost into the top 20 after Parris' dramatic victory over Dhesi. 

#2 Gable Steveson, Minnesota +2

Thanks to his win over Derek White earlier in the season and White's Southern Scuffle title over Anthony Cassar, Steveson moves up two spots to #2. He'll have a chance to knock off #1 Sam Stoll this weekend. 

Check out Gable's match versus White from November:

#3 Derek White, Oklahoma State +2

As mentioned above, White beat Cassar in Chattanooga the day after New Year's, earning White a top three (soon to be top two?) spot.