New Jersey High School Wrestling Mini Boards

Class of 2023

It was 2019 when we first began ranking high school wrestlers by state here at Flo, which also happened to be the year that the Class of 2023 was just entering high school. So, it’s safe to say, we’ve kept a close eye on this class in the past four years…

Choosing between the top two guys in the class wasn’t easy. First, there’s Jim Mullen – a three-time state champ and Cadet World silver medalist. Meanwhile, Simon Ruiz has proven himself as one of the steadiest guys in the state for the past four years, finishing third, second, first, and first as the leader of a Delbarton team that was the state’s best for most of his tenure. Ruiz is about as sound a wrestler as you’re going to find coming out of the state in the past few years. But ultimately, as one of the state’s great heavyweights of all-time, Mullen gets the nod at #1. Keep in mind, although Mullen’s scholarship is with the wrestling program, football will have his attention in the fall.

As difficult as it was to come up with the top two guys, the heat keeps on coming at #3 and #4.

Vazquez and Santaniello’s head-to-head matchups were two of the biggest in NJ back in 2022, and Vazquez won both. Both guys have two state titles and elite stuff on their feet.

Santaniello scores a ton of points – bonusing his way through his senior year. But it was Vazquez’s head-to-head wins in the 2022 season that give him the edge here.

Santaniello, we must note, still has a decision to make since asking for a release from Oklahoma following the resignation of Lou Roselli as head coach. Where Santaniello is headed next year is still in question, but his finalists include Pittsburgh (where his older brother Vincent currently wrestles), Iowa, Michigan, and Nebraska. Whoever wins the Santaniello Sweepstakes will be getting a great one really late in the game.

Cornell is the big winner for the NJ Class of 2023, though, snagging not only Ruiz but also fellow upperweight and 2023 state champ Michael Dellagatta. Cornell fans have become familiar with a few New Jersey guys occupying the upperweights for some years now and these two look like they could be appropriate replacements. Dellagatta wrestled his senior season at 190lbs, if he can continue bulking and take his funky style up to heavyweight – boy, could he be dangerous.

As for the rest of the list, Stanich was a Fargo finalist and 2023 state champ and is off to Lehigh to help secure the lower weights for the Mountain Hawks.

Grungo is probably the biggest climber on this list. He navigated one of the state’s toughest weight classes on his way to the state title without surrendering a takedown at 144 pounds. He has tremendous defense and plenty of stuff on his feet that make his college prospects intriguing. He’ll be joining Stanich at Lehigh.

Queen came up just short of titles at Beast of the East and New Jersey states, falling to #1 in the Class of 2024 Louis Cerchio, but he comes in as Drexel’s most promising recruit. 

At #10, it’s Delbarton again, with Cross Wasilewski rounding things out, just ahead of wrestlers like Jared Schoppe, George Rhodes, Jack Zaleski and Conor Collins who are more than worthy to be considered a part of this group.