October 2024 U.S. Men's Freestyle Wrestling Rankings

57 KG

#5 Luke Lilledahl won the Junior World Championships over Senior Russian Nationals runner-up #11 (INT) Lev Pavlov (RUS) and is currently ranked #10 in the world. #6 Marcus Blaze and #7 Jax Forrest moved up to 61 KG where Blaze finished silver at Senior World Team Trials and took bronze at the Junior World Championships while Forrest took bronze at Senior World Team Trials.

61 KG

2023 Senior World Champion Vito Arujau takes the number one spot at 61 KG by winning Senior World Team Trials over #6 (57) Marcus Blaze. Taking bronze at World Team Trials was #7 (57) Jax Forrest. #6 (57) Marcus Blaze debuts in the 61 KG rankings at #2 for beating 2023 Final X runner-up #3 Nahshon Garrett, #7 Seth Gross, and 2021 61 KG Senior World runner-up #4 Daton Fix to make the finals of the World Team Trials in a busy September that included a bronze medal finish at the Junior World Championships.

Due to the abundance of forfeits at World Team Trials along with the lack of competitive depth in the U.S., the lower spots in the rankings are comprised of World Team Trials participants and in certain weights Junior National Champions. Having said this, Liam Cronin takes the #8 spot in the rankings for taking fourth at World Team Trials. Nasir Bailey takes the #9 spot for making the quarterfinals of World Team Trials and notching wins over Michael Tortorice and Devan Turner. Nico Provo takes the #10 spot with an 0-2 record at World Team Trials, see the prior point about depth in the United States, he is a good wrestler who was ranked high at 125 this past season but in this capacity he fills up space due their only being 12 wrestlers competing in the U.S. at 61 KG.

65 KG

#1 Zain Retherford has retired from competition and 2023 Senior World Rep #2 Nick Lee moves up one spot to #1. #8 Nahshon Garrett and #9 Seth Gross moved back down to 61 KG and are ranked #3 and #7 respectively. New additions to the rankings are Last Chance Olympic Qualifier champion Matthew Kolodzik at #8, Junior World bronze medalist Bo Bassett at #9, and Junior World Team Trials runner-up Aden Valencia at #10.

70 KG

James Green made a successful return to competition after a two year hiatus by winning the Senior World Team Trials over Alec Pantaleo to make his seven World team. Junior World bronze medalist PJ Duke took bronze at Senior World Team Trials over Yahya Thomas. James Green takes the number one spot in the rankings for winning Senior World Team Trials and Alec Pantaleo takes #2 for taking silver at the Senior World Team Trials. 2022 Final X runner-up Jordan Oliver takes the #3 spot in the rankings for his past body of work (wins over #1 (65) Nick Lee, #2 (65) Joey McKenna). Junior World Bronze medalist PJ Duke takes the #4 spot in the rankings for taking third at Senior World Team Trials.

Grand Prix of Spain champion Yahya Thomas takes the #5 spot in the rankings for taking fourth at Senior World Team Trials. Jackson Arrington takes the #6 spot in the rankings for making the consolation quarterfinals and notching a win over #5 (74) Jarret Jacques in the consolation blood round. Jacques slots in at #7 due to taking fourth at the 2023 74 KG Senior Nationals tournament where he beat #6 Terrell Barraclough and #10 Joshua Shields, but failed to place at Senior World Team Trials due to losses #4 PJ Duke and #6 Jackson Arrington. Will Lewan takes the #6 spot in the rankings for making the consolation semifinals (where he lost to PJ Duke) and notching a win over #9 Bryce Andonian. Daniel Cardenas takes the #10 spot for making the Senior World Team Trials blood round and beating Vince Bouzakis.

74 KG

#2 Jason Nolf retired from competition and has been removed from the rankings. #3 Jordan Burroughs moved back up to 79 KG where he won Senior World Team Trials and is ranked #1. #5 Jarret Jacques dropped down to 70 KG and finished in the blood round of Senior World Team Trials and is ranked #7. #7 Keegan O’Toole moved up to 79 KG for World Team Trials and lost in the championship semis to #2 (79) Chance Marsteller and in the consolation semis to #10 Levi Haines who took fourth at 79 KG Senior World Team Trials behind David Carr.

Replacing the four wrestlers lost from the rankings are 2023 Senior Nationals 6th place finisher Terrell Barraclough at #6, 2023 Senior Nationals 8th place finisher Joseph Sealey at #7, 2023 70 KG Ziolkowski Open champion Doug Zapf (a 2023 Senior Nationals quarterfinalist) at #8, and 2023 Senior Nationals participants Isaiah White and Joshua Shields at #9 and #10 respectively. #5 Ladarion Lockett took silver at the Junior World Championships to #17 (INT) Ali Abbas Rezaei (IRI).

79 KG

#3 (74) Jordan Burroughs won the Senior World Team Trials over #6 (86) Chance Marsteller with David Carr taking bronze over #10 (74) Levi Haines. Jordan Burroughs takes the #1 spot for winning World Team Trials with Marsteller taking the #2 spot for finishing silver and Carr and Haines taking third and fourth respectively. #7 (74) Keegan O’Toole takes the #5 spot for making the championship semifinals with a victory over #3 David Carr but losing to #2 Chance Marsteller in the championship semis and then losing to #4 Levi Haines in the consolation semifinals. #7 (86) Evan Wick takes the #6 spot for beating Grand Prix of Spain Champion #7 Kennedy Monday and Joey Lavallee. Zack Ryder takes the #9 spot for winning the Junior World Team Trials over Gabe Arnold and taking silver at the Junior World Championships. Hunter Garvin takes the #10 spot for beating Joey Lavallee to make the quarterfinals of Senior World Team Trials.

86 KG

86 KG was the weight most devastated due to a combination of guys dropping down to 79 KG and bumping up to 92 KG. #2 David Taylor moved up to 92 KG and won Senior World Team Trials. #3 Zahid Valencia moved back up to 92 and took silver at World Team Trials to David Taylor. #4 Trent Hidlay moved up to 92 KG and finished as the Senior World Team Trials Challenge Tournament runner-up to David Taylor.

#5 Alex Dieringer cut back down to 79 KG and retired after losing in the Senior World Team Trials semifinals to #1 (79) Jordan Burroughs. #6 Chance Marsteller moved back down to 79 KG where he took silver at Senior World Team Trials to #1 (79) Jordan Burroughs. #7 Evan Wick cut down to 79 KG and made the consolation quarterfinals where he lost to #4 (79) Levi Haines and failed to place. #10 Connor Mirasola moved up to 92 KG where he took fifth at the Junior World Championships and made the consolation semifinals where he lost to Marcus Coleman.

2022 92 KG Bill Farrell Memorial Invitational runner-up Morgan McIntosh takes the #4 spot as he took silver at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier and notched a semifinal win over #5 John Gunderson. John Gunderson takes #5 for finishing bronze at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier and taking gold at U23 Nationals: Gunderson’s run at the Last Chance Qualifier was especially impressive with victories over #6 Nelson Brands, #7 Taylor Lujan, and Chris Foca.

Nelson Brands takes the #6 for taking fourth at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier where he beat #7 Taylor Lujan and #10 (92) Aeoden Sinclair. Taylor Lujan takes the #7 spot for taking 7th at the 2023 Senior Nationals and notching a win over Junior World silver medalist #8 Joshua Barr while there. Junior World runner-up Joshua Barr takes the #8 spot even though he has a win over #5 John Gunderson (2023 Senior Nationals) his loss to #7 Taylor Lujan at the same event and Gunderson’s subsequent win over Lujan at the Last Chance Qualifier caused his spot in the rankings to be affected. Martin Cosgrove takes the #9 spot for wins over #10 Owen Webster and Chris Foca at the Last Chance Olympic Qualifier.

92 KG

Four-time World/Olympic champion David Taylor returned to competition after finishing runner-up at 86 KG Olympic Trials to win the Senior World Team Trials over 2023 Senior World bronze medalist #2 Zahid Valencia. 86 KG Olympic Trials bronze medalist Trent Hidlay takes the #3 spot for finishing runner-up to #1 David Taylor in the challenge tournament finals. Michael Macchiavello takes the #4 spot for taking third at Senior World Team Trials over #6 Marcus Coleman. #7 (97) Jay Aiello takes the #7 spot for finishing in the consolation semis after a loss to #6 Marcus Coleman to go along with a win over #8 Jacob Cardenas from the 2023 U.S. Open. Max Hale takes the #9 spot for making the consolation semifinals with wins over #10 Nick Stemmet and Cam Caffey. Nick Stemmet takes the #10 spot for beating Junior World Team Trials runner-up Aeoden Sinclair. Sinclair notched a notable victory over 86 KG Olympic Trials participant and 92 KG Junior World 5th place finisher Connor Mirasola by 10-0 tech fall in his opening round match.

97 KG

Justin Rademacher took bronze at the Junior World Championships with his only loss being to 2023 92 KG Senior World Champion #10 (INT) Rizabek Aitmukhan (KAZ) in the semifinals. With #6 Michael Macchiavello, #5 Eric Schultz, and #7 Jay Aiello going down to 92 KG, 2023 Senior Nationals participants Tyrie Houghton and Lou DePrez take the #8 and #9 spot while Junior World bronze medalist Justin Rademacher takes the #10 spot.

125 KG

Ben Kueter took silver at the Junior World Championships to #3 (INT) Amirreza Masoumi Valadi (IRI).

Pound for Pound

#5 Zain Retherford and #6 Jason Nolf retired from competition and have been removed from the rankings. Six-time 70 KG world rep James Green is back in the rankings at #10 due to wins over #5 Zain Retherford and #17 Alec Pantaleo. 70 KG World Team Trials runner-up Alec Pantaleo is back in the rankings at #17 due to his past wins over Senior World Medalists #10 James Green, Haji Aliyev (AZE), #5 (INT) Amir Mohammad Yazdani (IRI), and Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ).

61 KG Senior World Team Trials runner-up Marcus Blaze enters the rankings at #20 for beating #21 Nahshon Garrett and #22 Daton Fix at Senior World Team Trials. Blaze’s only losses in the month of September where to Junior World Champion #6 (INT) Masanosuke Ono (JPN) and 2023 Senior World Champion #1 Vito Arujau.