2024 State Duals Predictions

Division 2 Ohio high school wrestling – OHSWCA State Duals predictions.

Participating Teams

Seed	Team	Dual Rank
1	Buckeye	1
2	Graham	2
3	Watterson	3
4	Wauseon	5
5	Steubenville	7
6	Carrollton	20
7	Napoleon	6
8	Louisville	10

View full set of team rankings here.

DubStat’s Projected D2 Bracket

Duals were simulated using DubStat’s Matchup Predictor.

(View full lineups and all potential matchups at the end of the article)

Round 1 (Quarterfinals)

Top Half:

#1 Buckeye will have little trouble getting past Louisville.

Wauseon vs Steubenville should be an excellent matchup with each team favored to win 7 matches.

Bottom Half:

Dual meets are all about matchups and Napoleon has the lineup to knock Graham into the consolation bracket in ROUND 1!

Napoleon is a slight favorite to win the dual, assuming Graham is forfeiting 150 and 157 – which they did last weekend at the State Duals qualifier.

The matchups:

Graham is the clear favorite in 6 weights (106, 138, 144, 165, 175, and 215)
Napoleon is the clear favorite in 6 weights (113, 120, 132, 150, 157, and 285)

The dual will likely come down to bonus points and two toss-up matches:

126: (#14) Demarco vs (#10 Gonzalez) – We could see Cordoba here and Gonzalez at 120.
190: (#6) Mannier vs (#3) Eggers – Eggers recently dropped from 215. He and Merz could swap for this match if Napoleon thinks it provides them with a better matchup.

If DeMarco or Mannier win, we’ll see Napoleon’s Cinderella story ruined before it started as Graham would win the bonus point battle and come out on top of a 7/7 split match.

Potential top-10 matchups in Round 1:
113: #1 Blake Bartos vs #3 Kaden Barker (Louisville)
190: #6 Chett Mannier (Graham) vs #3 Henry Eggers (Napoleon)
120: #3 Neal Krysty (Watterson) vs #7 Kail Snair (Carrollton)
138: #3 James Lindsay (Watterson) vs #1 Josh Carman (Carrollton)
150: #3 Benicio Torres (Wauseon) vs #2 Brody Saccoccia (Steubenville)

Semifinals

Buckeye vs Wauseon

Wauseon doesn’t matchup well with Buckeye and will only be favored in 3 matches. Buckeye should cruise to the finals.

Potential top-10 matchups:
113: #1 Blake Bartos vs #8 Joseph Lugabihl
190: #1 Eddie Neitenbach vs #4 Austin Kovar

Watterson vs Napoleon

If Napoleon gets past Graham, they have a real chance of knocking off Watterson, placing themselves in the finals against Buckeye.

As the matchups sit, each team is the clear favorite in 5 matches, leaving us with 4 toss-up weights:

113: #19 Bohls (Napoleon) vs #18 Conyers (Watterson)
144: #27 Groll (Napoleon) vs #36 Hangen (Watterson)
157: #21 Saputo (Napoleon) vs #30 Haley (Watterson) – I’m assuming Saputo bumps from 150
215: #36 Merz (Napoleon) vs #23 Purcell (Watterson)

In the case of a 7/7 split, I give Napoleon the slight edge on bonus points.

Potential top-10 matchups:
120: #9 Roman Cordoba vs #3 Neal Krysty
126: #10 Alex Gonzales vs #1 Joseph Curry

Finals

Buckeye vs Napoleon

Napoleon, Watterson, or Graham could all realistically be sitting across from Buckeye in the finals.

Buckeye is the clear favorite against Napoleon or Watterson, but they do not matchup well with Graham.

If Graham gets by Napoleon in round 1, do not be surprised to see them in the finals in a toss-up dual with Buckeye.

However, let’s assume DubStat’s prediction comes true and we see a Buckeye/Napoleon final.

This is where Napoleon’s magic runs out. They would be favored in 5 matchups with 2 of those being closer to toss-ups. Their ceiling is 6 wins which won’t be enough to knock off the defending Ohio Dual Meet state champions.

Prediction: Buckeye wins 8-10 matches and wins the dual by 25-30 points.

Potential Finals Matchups:
106: (#29) Brenden McKee vs (#36) Cole Cereghin
113: (#1) Blake Bartos vs (#19) Harrison Bohls
120: (#1) Colyn Limbert vs (#9) Roman Cordoba
126: (#17) Brody Zoul vs (#10) Alex Gonzales
132: (#29) Maven Reid vs (#8) Romeo Cordoba
138: (#6) Austin McKee vs (#50) Owen Beard
144: (#5) Danny Beckett vs (#27) Hayden Groll
150: (#29) Nick Brunst vs (#82) Ignacio Corona
157: (#1) Kaden King vs (#21) Payton Saputo
165: (#10) Dillon Badiu vs (#47) William Apple
175: (#32) Liam Neitenbach vs (#28) George Eggers
190: (#1) Eddie Neitenbach vs (#3) Henry Eggers
215: (#39) Curtis Gunkelman vs (#36) Tristan Merz
285: (#61) Jacob Marquetant vs (#5) Isaac Lehman