Curious about this comparison:
2. Dayton Dreher-12-Oberlin
3. Greg Tooley-11-St. Marys
Yes, that was one of the more difficult rankings until you look at the total body of work.
Dreher is a 3X time state placer (2nd, 3rd, 3rd), while Tooley did not qualify his freshman year and finished 2nd last season.
Both are good wrestlers, but I have to give the edge to Dreher.
Tooley lost a very close match to Brogan Humphrey in the 138 final and Dreher was at 132. I had to go with the defending 138 finalist.
Yes, I saw the match and I took note of the score, but if my memory serves me right Humphrey controlled the pace of the match (like he does in many matches) and it never appeared that he was ever in any danger of losing. This has been a bit of a theme for Humphrey's finals matches. He has taken a lead in all three matches and more or less coasted. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, Humphrey is great wrestler who can dictate the pace of a match and it is not a knock on his opponents as all three were very tough. In all three matches he won by a 2 points or less. Tooley had a great state tournament and a great season, he did however lose by fall in the regional finals to James Landoll of Marysville who took 5th at state.
I believe Dreher was at one point leading on his finals opponent John Risewick of Norton in the first period (it was nearly 9 months ago so I may be remembering this wrong). Dreher lost 8 to 7 to Risewick at state. His loss at regionals was to Risewick by a major decision.
Again, I think Tooley and Dreher are very close. Both had wins over currently ranked All-Class wrestlers in Lucas Lovvorn of Holton and Sawyer Like of BVSW, respectively. Both had wins over several state placers last season. Both had losses to very tough wrestlers outside of their classification, Tooley lost to Bryce Shoemaker of Baldwin and Dreher lost to Chase Cole of Chanute along with Geordan Martinez of Pine Creek, CO.
The one thing that really separates them is their body of work prior to last season, and that is where Dreher has a distinctive advantage. It should be an interesting year at this weight, but in the end everyone will be trying to beat Humphrey for the title which has proven to be an arduous task.