Is 150-pounds the toughest weight in Ohio?

an analysis of the toughest weight classes, districts, and weight class by district in Ohio high school wrestling

Jaxon Joy, Ty Wilson, Mitchell Younger, Reese Stephen

With about two months remaining of the 2024 wrestling season, the landscape of talent around the state is starting to take shape.

In this article, we will examine where the most talented wrestlers reside by:

Weight Class
Weight Class and Division
Weight Class and District

Weight Class Strength

The chart below shows the relative strength of each weight class in Ohio based on the average Elo rating of the top-10 wrestlers in each weight class and division.

Observations:

150 is the “toughest weight” in the state, inching out 132 and 138 by 2 Elo points. Check out the talent in this weight:
- Jaxon Joy (2x State Champ)
- Mitchell Younger (2x State Champ)
- Ty Wilson (2x State Champ)
- Reese Stephen (State Champ)
- Daxton Chase (3x State Placer)
- Brody Saccoccia (2x State Placer)
- Antonio Shelley (2x State Placer)
- Plus multiple state placers, qualifiers, and talented freshmen
The “mid-weights” from 132 – 175 are pretty much equivalent in strength. Their scores range from 1781 to 1787
As you get into the “light-weights” (106 – 126) or “upper-weights” (190 – 285), weight class strength starts to trail off.
106 is the lowest rated class, as it usually contains the highest percentage of under classmen.
Heavyweight and 215 have the opposite problem as 106 – too many upper classmen. Most of the highly rated wrestlers graduate each year which makes every year a “re-loading year”.

Weight Class Strength by Division

The chart below shows the relative difficulty of each weight class by division based on the average Elo rating of the top 10 wrestlers in each weight class.

[Note: Weights are based off of the lowest weight a wrestler competed at this season with a few exceptions where I’m pretty sure a wrestler is going to stay at a higher weight. (The two with the most impact are Ayoub at D1 144, and Neitenbach D1 190)]

Observations:

D1 144 is far out front of the pack with multiple returning state champs and placers:
1. Omar Ayoub (2x State Champ)
2. Nick Blackburn (State Placer)
3. Israel Petite (2x State Placer)
4. Ryan Bennett (State Champ, 2x Finalist)
5. Diego Chavez (State Placer)
6. Zisimos Giatis (PIT Champ)
7. Wyatt Brock (State Placer)
8. Andrew Myers (State Placer)
9. Jack Dinwiddie (2x State Placer)
10. Micah Cottrell (State Placer)
11. Mannix Wasco (State Placer)
D1 in general dominates the top ranked classes while D2 and D3 are a intermingled in the bottom two-thirds.
D1 106 is 14 spots below the rest of the D1 weights.
D3 150 is the highest rated non-D1 weight with a returning champ and multiple placers in the top 10:
1. Reese Stephen (State Champ)
2. Brayden Brown (State Placer)
3. Daxton Chase (3x State Placer)
4. Luke Dolan (State Placer)
5. Zeran Brady
6. Drake Rennecker
7. TJ Wilson (State Placer)
8. Brodie Martin
9. Jacob Lyons (State Placer)
10. Jackson Bartles
D2 106, D3 285, and D3 106 round out the bottom.