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Intermat's Top 50 list

#13 AJ Ferrari
This is the one ahead of Lewis that gives me the most heartburn. At least Kemerer, Parris, and Micic have had careers to solidify their statuses. But Ferrari has a single season under his belt and did not have nearly as impressive a run to his title as did Lewis when he got his.

Nothing can really be written on Lewis beyond his freshman campaign (did not compete in 2020, and was severely injured through 2021). So collegiately, I would compare the two guys on the basis of a single season each. 2019 Lewis > 2021 Ferrari.
 
This is the one ahead of Lewis that gives me the most heartburn. At least Kemerer, Parris, and Micic have had careers to solidify their statuses. But Ferrari has a single season under his belt and did not have nearly as impressive a run to his title as did Lewis when he got his.

Nothing can really be written on Lewis beyond his freshman campaign (did not compete in 2020, and was severely injured through 2021). So collegiately, I would compare the two guys on the basis of a single season each. 2019 Lewis > 2021 Ferrari.
Your strong objection is noted

 
Your strong objection is noted


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This is the one ahead of Lewis that gives me the most heartburn. At least Kemerer, Parris, and Micic have had careers to solidify their statuses. But Ferrari has a single season under his belt and did not have nearly as impressive a run to his title as did Lewis when he got his.

Nothing can really be written on Lewis beyond his freshman campaign (did not compete in 2020, and was severely injured through 2021). So collegiately, I would compare the two guys on the basis of a single season each. 2019 Lewis > 2021 Ferrari.
Do you even deadlift, bro?
 
Here we go..#12 Carter Starocci
Next up is…

#12 Carter Starocci (Penn State)

Weight: 174 lbs

Year: Freshman

Career Record: 14-2

Hometown: Erie, Pennsylvania

College Accomplishments: 2021 NCAA Champion, 2021 Big Ten Runner-Up

2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #1 at 174 lbs

The Penn State recruiting Class of 2019 was a small group, but looks great on paper because of the signing of Carter Starocci, a top-ten recruit and the top 174 lb prospect among high school seniors. With national champion Mark Hall handling the 174 lb weight class in the Nittany Lion lineup, Starocci was allowed to redshirt during his initial year in State College.

Even though Starocci wasn't in the Penn State lineup, he still saw plenty of action during the 2019-20 campaign. Starocci went undefeated and captured titles at the Clarion Open, the Patriot Open, the Southern Scuffle, and the Edinboro Open.

Of course, the most prestigious of the bunch was the Scuffle, where he notched wins over the eventual SoCon champion (Neal Richards - VMI) and the eventual EIWA finalist (Spencer Carey - Navy) to claim his title. At the Scuffle, Starocci's closest bout was an 11-5 win over Pittsburgh's Gregg Harvey.

A constant during Starocci's redshirt season was his ability to light up the scoreboard and rack up bonus points. He got to bonus-point territory in more than 63% of his 19 victories.

With Hall out of the picture in 2020-21, the spot at 174 was Starocci's for the taking. Unfortunately, his Nittany Lion debut didn't go as planned. In a dual against Indiana, Starocci was put on his back by Donnell Washington and trailed 6-0 less than a minute into the bout. He battled back but ultimately lost 10-9.

After a couple of lopsided wins, Starocci went into the toughest stretch of his dual season with matches against Logan Massa (Michigan) and Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) in back-to-back outings. In both contests, Starocci had to dig deep and edged the veterans in tiebreakers.

At the Big Ten Championships, Starocci would meet Romero again and again prevailed in a low-scoring affair, 2-0. He made the finals after taking down returning All-American Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) in sudden victory. Starocci's run would come to an end in the tournament's final against Michael Kemerer (Iowa), who prevailed with a 7-2 win.

The second-place finish and a win over Labriola helped the Nittany Lion freshman net the third seed at his first NCAA Tournament. In the opening round, Starocci was able to grab a bonus point in his 10-2 win over Vic Marcelli (Virginia); however, he had to fight and scrap with close bouts throughout the balance of the tournament.

For a place in the finals, Starocci pulled the ever-so-slight upset and handed #2 Demetrius Romero (Utah Valley) his first loss of the 2021 campaign, 2-0. That set the stage for a rematch of the Big Ten finals with Kemerer on the raised mat in St. Louis.

Starocci was able to slow down the high-paced Kemerer and the Hawkeye was never able to get to his offense. Through the first seven minutes of the bout, the two traded escape points and they accounted for the only scoring in regulation. Early in the sudden victory period, Starocci got to a double leg and fought for the finish and the national title.

Just over a month ago, Starocci was in action at the World Team Trials at 79 kg. He had a remarkable run that resulted in a third-place finish after wins over Evan Wick, Chance Marsteller, and Jason Nolf.

Strengths: Starocci has excellent footwork and moves well for his weight class. He had a solid head/hands defense which rarely allows opponents to get to his legs. Offensively, Starocci's best weapon is a double leg. Most of the time, he goes directly for it, but other times he switches to it after a single leg. Starocci also scores with a sweep single. On the mat, Starocci ends up getting riding time with a majority of his competition. He actively looks for wrists and ankles to neutralize and can get a tilt if the situation presents itself. As alluded to earlier, his matwork and overall ability to pull out close wins against more seasoned competition, bodes well for his future.

2021-22 Outlook: With his national title, Starocci enters the season as the favorite and the top-ranked 174 lber in the land. He'll likely have to face Kemerer two or three more times this season to repeat as champion. In addition to the 2021 All-Americans, the 174 lb weight class got a boost from the ACC as former national finalists Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) and Hayden Hidlay (NC State) are slated to move up.
 
#10 Myles Amine

How can they have Myles Amine ahead of AJ Ferrari?
Yeah, another headscratcher.

He has yet to even be a NCAA finalist, let alone a champ. On that basis, I don’t see how they can even have him ahead of Kemerer.

I’m guessing close matches with Mark Hall and his freestyle career are at play. Or his dad shook fists at Intermat?

Kem: 3, 4, 2, had a win over Hall
Amine: 4, 3, 3, 3, never beat Hall (or Valencia)
 
Probably the Olympic bronze.
Agree they are factoring-in freestyle, though I disagree with using it as a major consideration in a “countdown to the NCAA season” Top 50 list. I would have preferred a pure play on collegiate career.
 
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i definitely prefer Amine over Ferrari. Amine was in the mix for 4 years. Ferrari got it done, but once.

if you don't agree with that process than the entire top 10 would be nothing but last year's champs in some order. and Mekhi would be ahead of guys like Fix. i just can't agree with that.

to each their own, though.
 
i definitely prefer Amine over Ferrari. Amine was in the mix for 4 years. Ferrari got it done, but once.

if you don't agree with that process than the entire top 10 would be nothing but last year's champs in some order. and Mekhi would be ahead of guys like Fix. i just can't agree with that.

to each their own, though.
I love the idea of the list. No list will please everyone. I just can't get with a guy that took 3rd ahead of the guy who beat him and took gold in his only try. That being said..I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
 
i definitely prefer Amine over Ferrari. Amine was in the mix for 4 years. Ferrari got it done, but once.

if you don't agree with that process than the entire top 10 would be nothing but last year's champs in some order. and Mekhi would be ahead of guys like Fix. i just can't agree with that.

to each their own, though.
Bruh, Fix has as many offensive points as me in NCAA finals.
 
i definitely prefer Amine over Ferrari. Amine was in the mix for 4 years. Ferrari got it done, but once.

if you don't agree with that process than the entire top 10 would be nothing but last year's champs in some order. and Mekhi would be ahead of guys like Fix. i just can't agree with that.

to each their own, though.
Might not just designate last year's champs as the automatic top 10, but I have a tough time thinking a one or more time champion doesn't carry significantly more weight than a never time champ who made the semi-finals two or three times. Heck, a one for one champion should be more significant than a guy who is a zero time champ after failing in the finals twice.
 
Might not just designate last year's champs as the automatic top 10, but I have a tough time thinking a one or more time champion doesn't carry significantly more weight than a never time champ who made the semi-finals two or three times. Heck, a one for one champion should be more significant than a guy who is a zero time champ after failing in the finals twice.
Amine is on a vision quest to be a 5 time all American, not too many of those out there 🤷
 
i definitely prefer Amine over Ferrari. Amine was in the mix for 4 years. Ferrari got it done, but once.

if you don't agree with that process than the entire top 10 would be nothing but last year's champs in some order. and Mekhi would be ahead of guys like Fix. i just can't agree with that.

to each their own, though.
Willie.....you do you. We gotta bitch about something besides the weather.....or Covid.....or politics......or rumors....or HR......or........sh@t......we are sickos :)
 
It is early and my brain may not be working, is it possible to have a 6 time AA? Didn’t they “award” AA status to some in 2020 then a free year last year? Or am I just making things up?
 
Any 2020 Freshman AAs who had redshirt pulled lost that year's eligibility. It wasn't only Seniors like Cenzo and Mark Hall.
I know they lost a year of eligibility, and I am not just talking freshman, but did they not award AA status to some that year, that was my question. I googled it and the NWCA did award AA status to 8 wrestlers at each weight class. Is NWCA AA different than top 8 on the podium AA status?

So my brain wasn't working. So, not sure if anyone fits this, but if they AA'ed in the 2018 and 2019 NCAA's, then were on the list below, which would be their third, then again AA'ed at last years NCAA's (a free year) and come back to AA at 2022 NCAA's, that makes 5.

NWCA 2019-2020 All Americans
 
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