Ohio is a hotbed for college wrestling recruiting

When people think of Ohio, good chance they will think it is a football state.  Ohio was also said to be a key battleground state in the recent presidential election.  Well, when I think of Ohio, I think of wrestling and the battle for recruits.  Ohio has been a very strong state in wrestling for many years and if anything, Ohio high school wrestling is only getting better.  

As far as famous wrestlers from Ohio, there are two that come to mind right away. Three-time World champion Lee Kemp is from Chardon, OH.  Legendary wrestler and Hall of Fame coach Bobby Douglas is from Bellaire,Ohio.  

Mike DeAnna from Bay Village, OH was a four-time All-American for the Iowa Hawkeyes.  DeAnna won what is regarded by many as the greatest college wrestling match of all time when he defeated Mark Churella of Michigan in the 1979 Big Ten finals.  St. Ed’s has to be known as the best high school wrestling program in the country over the past forty years.  St. Ed’s sent us the Heffernan brothers.  Jim Heffernan was a four-time all American and an NCAA national champion and John Heffernan was a two-time All American for the Hawks.  

Iowa Wrestling has spent a lot of time in Ohio recruiting over the last four years.  And it has paid off.  Iowa true freshman Alex “Bull” Marinelli from St. Paris Graham is the biggest recruit in the Tom Brands era to date.  Iowa Wrestling will also welcome Justin Stickley, also from St. Paris Graham into the program next fall. Stickley is projected to compete anywhere from 133 to 149.  St. Paris Graham has been one of the top high school wrestling programs in the country for decades.

Ohio State and Oklahoma State have a real strong presence of Ohio high school wrestling in their lineup this year.  There are Ohio high school products throughout the country in Division I wrestling.

Ohio is also home of the Ironman.  I had my eyes opened recently to just how big this tournament is. Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, OH is the host of the toughest high school tournament in the country every year.  There were wrestlers competing from eighty-five schools from all across the country.  There were several weighclasses that were tougher than what you will find at Fargo for Junior National Freestyle. Incoming Iowa Wrestling recruits Spencer Lee (PA) and Jacob Warner (IL) dominated the tough field to win the Ironman title.  That had to help the cause for Iowa Wrestling recruiting.

I am a big fan of Ohio Wrestling News (www.ohiowrestlingnews.com).  They are a great source of all that is wrestling in Ohio.  They released a list of the top junior high wrestlers in Ohio.   The list below would be the recruiting classes of 2021 and 2022.  When I looked at this list, I counted up five wrestlers from Graham.  That must be a salty junior high team in a dual meet.  OWN has rankings by class on the landing page listed by the recruits graduation year. Also, on that website go to Rankings and then to JHDT (Junior High) or any of their categories including Dream Teams, Girls ratings, and high school individual and dual rankings.  All that you could want to know about future recruits in Ohio.  Impressive amount of work that these folks do.  They have it all for wrestling in Ohio.   

The Hawks bringing in elite recruit Alex Marinelli was a massive icebreaker for Iowa Wrestling in the Ohio recruiting wars.  Look for the Iowa Wrestling program to bring in more recruits from the talent-rich state of Ohio in the coming years.

I will keep this list for the time being.  

How many future Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers are on this list?  

Ohio Wrestling News top recruits for the Class of 2021/2022: