One of the biggest -- and most fun -- arguments in the wrestling community is debating which state has the best wrestlers. Whether it be at the high school, collegiate, or world level, fans like to remind their friends - and especially their rivals - where their favorite wrestler grew up. Up until this point there has not been an ultimate list of DI NCAA wrestling champions sorted out by state, but that changes today.
Inspired by Flo Wrestling’s Which State Did The Best At The 2017 NCAAs?, this list takes a look at every NCAA wrestling champion by weight, year, college, high school, hometown, and state. This data analysis dives into each wrestler’s hometown to determine which states and high schools breed the most individual NCAA champions by quantity. Feel free to review the raw data used in this analysis of NCAA champs.
NCAA Wrestling Championships by State
Since the college weight class change enacted in 1999, there have been 190 champions at the ten respective weight classes. In those years, there have been 28 states represented by a championship title; furthermore, just 5 of those states have accounted for 52.6% of the titles earned. Those states are Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, California, Oklahoma. PA is known in the wrestling community as a wrestling powerhouse, and these charts show that PA has been the winningest state in the past 18 years with approximately 15% of all titles per state. New Jersey and Ohio aren’t far behind, with a one champ difference between the two. So according to this data, no Donald Trump, Iowa is not the “home of the greatest wrestlers in the world;” but, the state does have the 6th most NCAA titles.
NCAA Wrestling Champions by State (US Map)
The map above shows off the most individual D1 wrestling titles per state. The scale ranges from light blue to dark blue, with more titles for the darker the color. States shown in white do not have any championships since 1999. Fun fact: Hawaii is represented by 2X champion Travis Lee of Honolulu, HI from his wins in 2003 and 2004. This chart displays the same concepts in the graphs above, but it is a neat way to look at a country-wide view of the data.
NCAA Wrestling Championship Titles by HS
Now that the top state has been determined, let’s take a look at the top high schools in the country. Out of the 190 titles since 1999, there have been 40 high schools winning 56% of all championships. Blair Academy has been responsible for almost 4% of them, which is nearly double the next 7 best schools that account for 2% each. Blair Academy, a private school located in New Jersey, has had notable champions including Steve Mocco (‘03, ‘05), Zack Esposito (‘05), Mark Perry (‘07-’08), and Kellen Russell (‘11, ‘12).
Interestingly enough, three out of the seven schools that have 4 total titles have had only one champion from their schools. Cael Sanderson from Wasatch HS (‘99-’02), Kyle Dake from Lansing HS (‘10-’13), and Logan Stieber from Monroeville HS (‘12-’15) are all 4X NCAA Champions -- the only 4X champions since the weight change.
In addition, while it might come as a surprise to some, only two out of the top eight schools are prep/private schools - Blair Academy and St. Edward HS.
NCAA Wrestling Championship Titles by HS (US Map)
The map above is another look at the same data in the previous charts, but it displays the high schools by location in the US. Out of the top forty high schools with NCAA Champions, seven are located in New Jersey, the most out of any state. As previously mentioned, NJ is home to Blair Academy. Falling close behind are Pennsylvania with six of the top high schools (incl. Greensburg Salem, Easton) and Ohio with five (incl. St. Edward, Wheeling Jesuit).
With all of this data analysis done now, it should be noted that this is only the past 18 years worth of data out of the total 89 years since 1928. However, even with this small portion of data since the collegiate weight change, the data shows where the sport is currently. States such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Ohio are dominating at the state and D1 collegiate level, while other states like California, Iowa, and Oklahoma are trying to keep up with the top dogs. Please feel free to critique and analyze any of the data above, and let us know your thoughts!
*Cover Photo Credit: Hunter Martin/Getty Images