2020-21 Domestic Rankings - Greco-Roman

67 Kilograms

Newly-minted National champ Beni Peak was excluded from the last batch of rankings but is now on-board at #11. Peak defeated two top-10 wrestlers en-route to his crown, Nolan Baker in the semis, and Calvin Germinaro in the final. Baker and Germinaro still earned points from their performances, however, and because Baker still owns head-to-head over both, his and Germinaro’s positions stay the same. 

Elsewhere, Lenny Merkin comes in at #15 after a very solid third-place outing that saw the Princeton student go 4-1 with three tech’s and a pin. One of Merkin’s victims was oft training partner Jessy Williams (NYAC), who finished 6th and sees his ranking drop from #11 to #14. Inching into the mix is West Point’s Anthony Abidin, whose only losses on Friday were to Merkin. In his other bouts, which included a rather surprising tech over Baker, Abidin looked like a natural fit for this style. 

Transparency Report: The ‘20 Nationals -- for everyone -- was obviously an event held under unique circumstances. Wrestlers from military programs were not permitted to compete, and many top athletes chose not to enter due to a variety of reasons, be it travel restrictions, lack of adequate training, dissatisfaction with the event’s place on the calendar -- or in some cases, the absence of prize money and procedural incentives. 

Because of this, an effort was made not to penalize those who decided to sit out of the tournament. This is not to say that all athletes who declined to participate kept their prior ranking. In several weight categories, there are athletes who dropped a spot or two. One in particular was ‘18 US National Team member David Tate Orndorff, who competed in Iowa but bypassed Greco in favor of freestyle. And given their results, some wrestlers have deservedly moved up in their respective weight classes. Such is how rankings operate. 

At the same time, one fortuitous byproduct of the encouraging amount of participation was that it now allows for rankings to go from #1 to #15, which was the original objective for this endeavor upon conception.

For a full overview on how the ranking system works, please view this article.

For questions and feedback, contact Tim Hands of 5 Point Move vis email (info@fivepointmove.com) and Twitter (@5PtMove).

*Olympic Trials qualified.