Best Wrestler To Come out of High School
- Thread starter TakedownWins
- Start date
I was always told Alan Fried or Cory Kolat was the best High School wrestler ever. There is a story about Fried wrestling John Smith when he was a Sophomore in High School and Smith was an Olympian and the best in the world.
Actually there is two. Steveson just won his 3rd world title and he isn't even in Junior age group yet.
Was well aware you were being a smart-ass, which is why I started off with the "Seriously?" However, I felt like using the opportunity to put out that his credentials are pretty stout. When the time comes that Minnesota and Wisconsin wrestle call me out. I will definitely take Hilger by less than a Major. Considering they aren't in the same stratosphere that should be an easy bet for you to make!
Edited to add: That means Hilger +8 for clarities sake(since you are already established as a smart-ass).
That's right, I forgot he had a cadet world title, before he lost his first year as a Junior.
I am talking about DI, because that will be our first opportunity to truly see them match up against each other. Right now, it is all conjecture.
Also, if you don't want to use DI, don't use Junior World's either. Since we are only talking about High School, we should ONLY compare their most recent High School season, should we not? All 4 were undefeated and completely wrecked their competition. Until you have a match against each other, it is impossible to make a definitive statement. Hell, even when you lose 101 times, many still think you are better. Just ask Dake about Taylor!
How old is Mark now? His grandkids should be tearing up the kids tourneys any day now.
Best all-time Iowa; Eric Juergens. I saw him and both you mentioned multiple times in H.S., and McGinnis was great, but Juergens made a believer out of me his Senior year when I saw him quite a few times.
I hate to say this, but he won it at the lowest weight and although he may be a stud, I do not give it as much weight as say a guy like Kolat placing 3rd at midlands as a sophomore. Also, I like to wait and see how they do in college before I anoint anyone. That is the only reason he is not at the top of my list.
I'll go with Spencer.
Intermat article on the same subject. It's about 10 years old and covers the period of 20 years prior.
http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/179
Intermat article on the same subject. It's about 10 years old and covers the period of 20 years prior.
http://intermatwrestle.com/articles/179
Gable "Dan" Steveson (Including the Dan is a must!) far and away. He is so much superior not only to top guys in this country but in the world. I give Lee a lot of credit for his Junior world title (a year removed from the age category) but doing it at heavy is an entirely different story (and Lee was only there because he lost the Cadet spot at 55kg to Fix). I remember reading that he is only 3 points behind Gwiz right now. That is absolutely insane if true as he would have obv been a 3x champ if not for Snyder and Steveson hasn't started his Senior year in high school! What he is doing is unprecedented territory. 100% he would bonus Nevills and whatever other domestic heavy (in high school) is put in front of him. I would honestly put him at #2-3 at NCAA's right now behind only Snyder and possible Coon...
I don't see any record of Fix beating Spencer for a spot on the World Cadet team. They were teammates in 2014. From United World Wrestling data base -
Spencer Lee
2015-08-11 World Championship Freestyle Juniors 50. 0 USA 1.
2014-07-15 World Championship Freestyle Cadets 50,0 USA 1.
2013-08-24 World Championship Freestyle Cadets 50,0 USA 7.
Daton Fix
2016-08-30 World Championship Freestyle Juniors 55.0 USA 3.
2016-05-19 Beat the Streets Multiple Style Event Seniors JLL 55.0 USA 1.
2015-08-25 World Championship Freestyle Cadets 54.0 USA 3.
2014-08-25 Youth Olympic Games Freestyle Cadets 54.0 USA 2.
2014-07-15 World Championship Freestyle Cadets 54.0 USA 10.
2014-05-02 Pan American Championship Freestyle Cadets 54.0 USA 1.
2014-05-02 Pan American Championship Greco-Roman Cadets 54.0 USA 1.
2013-08-09 Pan American Championship Freestyle Cadets 50,0 USA 1.
2013-08-09 Pan American Championship Greco-Roman Cadets 50,0 USA 1.
In 2015 Fix beat Spencer in two matches to earn the spot on the Cadet World team. Spencer then moved up to Juniors that same year and won the spot and won a world gold
top iowa top usa
1) Dan Gable 1) Gable Dan Steveson
2)Jeff McGinness 2) Mark Hall
3)Mark Schwab 3) Henry Cejudo
4)Cory Clark 4) Spencer Lee
5)Dan Knight 5) Cary Kolat
6)Greg Randall 6) Alan Fried
7)Joe Gibbons 7) Nick Simmons
8)Eric Juergens 8) Brent Metcalf,Dustin Schlatter, Troy Nickerson
9)Jason Kelber 9) Kyle Snyder
10)Corey Mills 10) Steve Mocco
1) Dan Gable 1) Gable Dan Steveson
2)Jeff McGinness 2) Mark Hall
3)Mark Schwab 3) Henry Cejudo
4)Cory Clark 4) Spencer Lee
5)Dan Knight 5) Cary Kolat
6)Greg Randall 6) Alan Fried
7)Joe Gibbons 7) Nick Simmons
8)Eric Juergens 8) Brent Metcalf,Dustin Schlatter, Troy Nickerson
9)Jason Kelber 9) Kyle Snyder
10)Corey Mills 10) Steve Mocco
It's true, Spencer bumped up a weight so both he and his best friend Gavin could both make the team. After he lost, he wrestled a weight 11 lbs lower one week later. I thought it was a gritty performance. Also, something that wasn't in place in the older days were the big super tournaments like the Super 32 or the Ironman and the abundance of private clubs. In Kolat's day we had Foxcatcher and that was about it and he trained there, but most were in-season athletes. The landscape of wrestling is so different now
I don't fault anyone for taking Carr or Kolat. I didn't see Carr, but Kolat was a beast. But I'm not buying the Spencer lost to Fix argument. First, Fix may be top 10 himself. Second, (and covered 2 years ago), Spencer wrestled Cadets up at 54 kg when his international weight was 50 kg. He acknowledged his walk around weight was in the mid 120s without cutting. Fix was probably in the mid 130s if not higher. Two weeks after losing, Spencer dropped to his natural 50 kg and won the Junior WTT at age 16. Then he tore his labrum in training camp and still teched his way to a Junior World Title. Another beast.
You mentioned Carr wrestled 52 kg when he made the World and Olympic teams in HS. An amazing achievement not done since. But if 52 kg was still an Olympic weight, who stops Spencer from making the USA team last year? Dan Dennis, Tony Ramos and Fix don't make 52 kg. Putting aside "if my aunt had balls..", Spencer is one of the best in the world at his weight regardless of age.
Lets see - Mark Hall loses to Alex Meyer and Christian Brucki and he's touted as the best junior wrestler in US history. Spencer loses to Fix (a world champ and a weight class up) and DeSanto (with a torn ACL) and he's out of the running for any GOAT list. [Maybe he could be greatest junior high wrestler? No hold it - he lost to Suriano in 9th grade. How about best grade school?] Also, about a year ago he was being downgraded for not having any close matches. Can't win for losing!
Add to that the "fact" that he's wrestling internationally at 50KG, a weight clas the "experts" tell us is weak - ignoring the fact that almost all the senior 57KG medalists wrestled at the lower weight as cadets and juniors.
This is getting old. Spencer is in the top five - maybe top three.
Good point. Willie, can you answer something about Carr's career? I think most know about him making World/Olympic teams and winning Midlands while still in high school. But why did he lose before PA states as both a freshman and a sophomore? Did he get caught and pinned? Was he great in neutral but weak on the mat until his junior year?
Here is my understanding of his high school career, but it might be off.
1971 - FR, loses at PA regionals, but makes World team
1972 - SO, loses at PA regionals, but makes Olympic team
1973 - JR, wins PA states in a close finals match
1974 - Sr, sits out in Kentucky but wins Midlands defeating the prior year's NCAA champion Mark Massery.
Kjelgaard was a bitch. I student coached at LC while doing my teaching practicum. He was a 7th grader in the varsity room pounding the piss out of everyone. I then saw him each year when he was in high school at the F Dodge December tourney(and state of course)......and it was scary.
With that said, top to bottom, the best I saw while coaching was McGinness. He was so dominant as a freshman in 3A, much less his last three years. Not saying he was the best(although from Iowa, he needs to be in the discussion), just the best I saw in my six years of High school coaching in Iowa.
Edit Addition: When Kjelgaard was a freshman we saw Lewis Central at F Dodge for the aforementioned December tourney. I was still good friends with Keith Massey. Chatted with him before the seeding meeting about his kids. Again, I saw him in their room as a 7th grader and we had heard rumors of course(all pre internet) about how good DK was. Anyway, it took at least 25-30 minutes to seed his weight alone, because the class was loaded and Massey at the least wanted Kjelgaard on the bottom half of the bracket(Mark Rial was the number 1 seed). Well, DK got the 4 seed. In the semis, he was beating Rial 6-4 or 6-5 and Rial hit a desperation headlock to win match. Fun Stuff..........Other stuff to add... Also a three-time Cadet National Champion (twice in Greco-Roman and once in freestyle) and five-time Junior National Champion (three times in Greco-Roman and twice in freestyle).....AND he beat one Cael Sanderson at Fargo in 1996(6-5).....Too bad he hurt his knee
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Not the #1 best but he deserves to be mentioned: Ty Moore. He seems to get lost in wrestling history a little bit because he flamed out in college. But he was the most dominant high school wrestler I ever personally saw. (It may be my western PA bias. Ray Brinzer should be mentioned too.)
Great stories. To this day when I think of Fort dodge wrestling I think of Rials. They also had a really tough 189 pounder back then.
The UWW Cadet and Junior age divisions are 15-17 and 18-20. Steveson and Lee as good as they are, have yet to wrestle the top 22/23 year old men and beat them... Perhaps they will, but I am not ready to anoint them just yet.
Mark Hall had some early season bumps in the road, but he adjusted and proved he could beat 5th year seniors last year. Let's not forget Aaron Pico either. Pico finished second in the Olympic Trials as a 19 year old. Schultz or Kolat with an argument for Pico is how I would vote.
Mark Hall had some early season bumps in the road, but he adjusted and proved he could beat 5th year seniors last year. Let's not forget Aaron Pico either. Pico finished second in the Olympic Trials as a 19 year old. Schultz or Kolat with an argument for Pico is how I would vote.
Do you guys remember TJ Hill? That kid won fargo like 8 times. I think he faded as he got older and lived a not so clean life.
TJ Hill was a monster. Was from Farmington, MO and was a 1999 Junior World Champ at 50kg. Was a tiny 118 pounder in college, but still held his own. I think his highest AA finish was 4th.
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