2025-26 Top 40 National High School Wrestling Rankings - Jan. 7, 2026

Holiday tournaments brought clarity—but not calm—as Lake Highland Prep and Blair trade blows; eligibility questions loom large, and multiple No. 1 showdowns headline a pivotal weekend for the national rankings

Charlie Desena (152) was Lake Highland Prep's lone PowerAde title, but his performance helped lead the Highlanders to the team championship. / Mike Palazzo

There was not a lot of movement in our national wrestling team rankings since the last release on Christmas Eve. The biggest changes came from dual meet results as most tournaments played out as expected around the holidays.

Lake Highland Finally Breaks Through at PowerAde

At PowerAde, No. 4 Lake Highland Prep got over the proverbial hump and captured the team title over No. 3 Blair Academy of New Jersey after nipping at their heels at Ironman and Beast of the East.

Blair Gets the Benefit This Time

We are returning the same courtesy given to LHP after they remained ranked ahead of Blair despite placing behind them at Ironman. The reasoning was, the Highlanders were without top five, Charlie DeSena. So, when going over what occurred at PowerAde, we noticed Blair was missing more than just one starter, so the Bucs are now on the receiving end of the benefit of the doubt.

A Fourth Meeting—and New Variables—in New Jersey

They’ve met three times now, with the Beast being the best representation of both teams and that was won by Blair, 250-247. Meeting number four is on tap for this weekend at a quad hosted by Blair with No. 18 St. Edward of Ohio and Virginia’s St. Christopher on hand.

The Lucas Layne Eligibility Curveball

The Highlanders were planning to use middle school sensation, Lucas Layne, who was ranked 11th by us in the country. By our research, we thought Layne was an eight grader, which would make him eligible for the National Prep Tournament, hence his inclusion in our rankings.

I do the rankings for the National Prep Tournament and within 20 minutes of sending the first draft to the board, I received multiple messages informing me Layne was a seventh grader and not eligible for the tournament. This was later confirmed by the board through Lake Highland coach Mike Palazzo.

What the National Prep Board Does — and Doesn’t Control

So, problem solved for the rankings and tournament. A little-known fact is that the National Prep Board is not a governing body for the participating schools. They simply run the National Prep Tournament, and the by-laws pertain to tournament eligibility only.

Prep Chairman, Henry Franklin, revealed to High School on SI that he was even contacted by the organizers of the Fab 50 Duals regarding Greens Farms Academy using post-graduates. Franklin explained that it is up to event organizers as he and the board only oversee the tournament and not the day-to-day operations of the members.

That falls on their athletic association if they have one, and if not, then the school dictates policy. It is the beauty of being a truly independent school. Although, some like the Maryland schools are beholden to their leagues’ rules.

That information is relevant for the quad at Blair because Franklin essentially told them the same thing as the Fab 50 folks: that decision is for you to make, we do not govern these issues.

Why Layne Won’t Compete at the Blair Quad

With nothing keeping Layne off the mat for the dual in any official guidelines since they don’t exist, a decision was made by Blair to use the tournament rules since they are hosting, and can therefore, dictate the terms.

It should be noted that some states allow seventh graders to compete on the varsity, so the notion is not a novel one.

Having Layne would have tilted a tight battle in the Highlanders’ favor as they have hung with Blair without the young buck’s presence at every stop. All eyes will be in New Jersey on Saturday to see how those shenanigans play out.

Doc Buchanan Sets the Stage for a No. 1 Showdown

Folks watching from home will also likely be tuning into the West Coast’s Grand Event, The Doc Buchanan Tournament hosted by Clovis High School.   

This platform will give us a battle for the title of the number one team in the country as No. 1 Faith Christian Academy takes a flight to Cali to faceoff with No. 2 Buchanan. No. 5 Delbarton is also making the cross-country trip from Jersey and has the firepower and depth to be in the title hunt.

Other Garden State teams joining them at Doc B are No. 21 St. Peter’s Prep and No. 40 Bergen Catholic. Oklahoma’s No. 13 Stillwater and No. 14 Edmond North join the fray as does No. 37 Pomona of Colorado. Some of these squads may only bring partial pieces.

Traditional California powers No. 7 St. John Bosco, No. 11 Poway, No. 12 Clovis, No. 19 Clovis North, No. 20 Gilroy, and No. 34 Esperanza will also take to the Doc B Mats.

Indiana Team State Brackets Could Reshape the Rankings

Team rankings for our three Indiana entrants will get some clarity this weekend as the IHSWCA Class 4 Team States take place at No. 27 Brownsburg. It appears No. 32 Crown Point and No. 35 Center Grove will meet in the semifinals with the winner getting Brownsburg in the finals (if all goes as expected).

Top 40 National Team Rankings

1-Faith Christian Academy, PA

Previous No. 1

Competed at the Naylor Duals in Maryland and defeated Greens Farms Academy in the finals, 37-33. Greens Farms was able to use postgraduates since it was hosted by a National Prep Tournament school, McDonogh.

2-Buchanan, CA

Previous No. 2

Came eastward over the holiday break to Ohio and won the Brecksville Invitational Holiday Tournament. Five nationally ranked teams finished behind them in Ohio’s Perrysburg, Massillon Perry, Dublin Coffman and the hosts, in addition to Dundee of Michigan.

3-Blair Academy, NJ

Previous No. 3

Finished third in the team standings at PowerAde in Pennsylvania but were missing multiple starters.  

4-Lake Highland Prep, FL

Previous No. 4

Won the team title at PowerAde over second place Malvern Prep and Blair.

5-Delbarton, NJ

Previous No. 5

Captured the team title at the Catholic School Duals in New Jersey, beating Christian Brothers Academy, 41-26, and St. Peter’s Prep, 49-13.

6-Malvern Prep, PA

Previous No. 6

Finished second at PowerAde.  

7-St. John Bosco, CA

Previous No. 7

Main squad was idle. A secondary team participated in the Sonora Tournament of Champions. 

8-Christian Brothers Academy, NJ

Previous No. 10

They had a busy week after Christmas, placing fourth at PowerAde ahead of Wyoming Seminary and Bishop McCort, then were at the Catholic School Duals over the weekend where they finished second to Delbarton and took out St. Joseph Regional, 38-28.

9-Wyoming Seminary, PA

Previous No. 9

Finished fifth at PowerAde ahead of Bishop McCort and St. Joseph Regional.

10-Bishop McCort, PA

Previous No. 8

They too had a busy week that began with a sixth place finish at PowerAde and ended by winning the team title at the Laurel Highlands Conference Tournament.

11-Poway, CA

Previous No. 11

Idle.

12-Clovis, CA

Previous No. 12

Main team did not compete at the Pat Lovell Classic.

13-Stillwater, OK

Previous No. 13

Handled Liberty of Missouri in a dual meet, 37-33.

14-Edmond North, OK

Previous No. 14

Idle.

15-Perrysburg, OH

Previous No. 17

Came in second at Brecksville. 

16-Massillon Perry, OH

Previous No. 15

Were third at Brecksville.  

17-Bishop McDevitt, PA

Previous No. 18

Were eighth at PowerAde, landing in front of St. Edward.  

18-St. Edward, OH

Previous No. 16

Finished tenth at PowerAde and beat Illinois’ Marist in a dual, 55-14.

19-Clovis North, CA

Previous No. 21

Idle. 

20-Gilroy, CA

Previous No. 22

Sent backups to Pat Lovell. 

21-St. Peter’s Prep, NJ

Previous No. 34

Had a successful trip to the Catholic School Duals where they upset St. Joseph Regional, 44-25. St. Peter’s also beat Bergen Catholic, 30-28, and fell to Delbarton. 

22-St. Joseph Regional, NJ

Previous No. 20

Placed fourth at the Catholic School Duals with losses to Christian Brothers Academy and St. Peter’s Prep.

23-Greens Farms Academy, CT

Previous No. 26

At McDonogh’s Naylor Duals, the Dragons were second to Faith Christian Academy 37-33. The use of postgraduates aided their effort. Since we keep mentioning their recent use of PGs, we should also point out they finished ahead of Broken Arrow, Allen, Brownsburg and more at Ironman without them.

24-Notre Dame-Green Pond, PA

Previous No. 19

Finished ninth at PowerAde ahead of St. Edward but followed that up with a dual meet loss to Bethlehem Catholic. That loss has pulled them down from their previous spot at No. 19. They finished ahead of Bethlehem Catholic at the Beast of the East, so given all of their results, wee dinged Notre Dame, but didn’t drop them all the way back.

25-Broken Arrow, OK

Previous No. 23

Idle.

26-Allen, TX

Previous No. 24

Hosted and won the Texas Outlaw Tournament.

27-Brownsburg, IN

Previous No. 25

Beat Illinois’ Marist, 49-21, and IC Catholic Prep, 40-28, in dual meets.

28-Dublin Coffman, OH

Previous No. 27

Finished fourth in the Brecksville team standings.

29-Brecksville, OH

Previous No. 32

Were the fifth team in the Brecksville pecking order.

30-Marmion Academy, IL

Previous No. 28

Had an up and down Christmas Break with two different dual meet outcomes where they were favored to beat Iowa’s Southeast Polk and did so, 40-26, but then were upset by instate rival, Joliet Catholic, 39-17. We moved Marmion down a few spots due to the Joliet loss, but they were missing a couple of guys (still, the 22-point gap can’t be dismissed). Joliet hasn’t done enough to crack the rankings but both teams will be watched closely moving forward.  

31-Dundee, MI

Previous No. 29

Placed sixth as a team at Brecksville.   

32-Crown Point, IN

Previous No. 30

Captured the team crown at the Al Smith Invitational over Center Grove, 297-276.

33-St. Michael-Albertville, MN

Previous No. 31

Competed at Wisconsin’s The Clash Dual Tournament and won the championship with a 39-21 win over Stillwater of Minnesota.  

34-Esperanza, CA

Previous Not Ranked

Some backups and a few starters were at the Sonora TOC.

35-Southeast Polk, IA

Previous No. 33

Fell 40-26 to Marmion Academy.

35-Center Grove, IN

Previous No. 36

Second to Crown Point at Al Smith.  

36-Grassfield, VA

Previous No. 37

Blew out Virginia’s Skyline, 51-20, in a dual and took first at the Joe Verciglio Tournament.

37-Pomona, CO

Previous No. 40

Idle.

38-Bethlehem Catholic, PA

Previous No. 35

They are a tough team to get a read on. They had an early season loss to Emmaus. Went to the Beast of the East and finished seventh (tied with St. Peter’s Prep). Then over the break, they were second at the Tony Iasiello Christmas City Tournament to Xavier of Connecticut. We were about to remove them from the rankings when they illogically beat Notre Dame-Green Pond in a dual this week, 37-27.

39-Nazareth, PA

Previous No. 38

Wrestled at the Bethlehem Holiday Tournament and placed first as a team over Emmaus, 171-147.

40-Bergen Catholic, NJ

Previous No. 39

Lost to St. Peter’s Prep, 30-28, at the Catholic School Duals.