VaWrestle's Top 100 for the Class of 2026

The crop of rising seniors is another excellent group

photo courtesy of Becky Cullinan; beckycullinan.smugmug.com

Yesterday, we unveiled VaWrestle’s Top 75 from the Class of 2025 and it was an excellent group. The same can be said for this current crop of juniors. Nine wrestlers from this class have made MatScouts new set of rankings (which do not include wrestlers from the Class of 2025).

The 2025 class was one of the best in almost two decades for Virginia and its successor has the opportunity to be just as good. While the 2025 class might have more top-end, elite talent, the 2026 class is much deeper. It was quite easy to put together the top 50 (without rankings) in this group and there was plenty of talent left over. So much so that I went to a top 100 with the juniors.

The criteria for this list include a whole variety of factors. For the top ten to 15, I’m taking into consideration national rankings, placements at national tournaments, along with state titles/placement and results. After that top 15 or 20, it’s more results-based, but also a projection of future success. There are some examples of a wrestler being ranked lower despite a head-to-head win. For the most part, I’m trying to capture the entire body of work.

As far as results and placements go, they are heavily weighted towards the last couple of years. Sorry, middle school state tournament results aren’t as relevant at this point.

Without any further ado, here’s the list. This will be updated multiple times over the next year - likely after significant major events, so there’s plenty of time to jump onto the list, for those omitted, or move up from the current position.