High School On SI Boys Pound-for-Pound Wrestling Rankings: Top 10 in the Nation

High School On SI presents its inaugural Boys Pound-for-Pound Wrestling Rankings, identifying the 10 best high school wrestlers in the country regardless of weight class.

Pennsylvania's Melvin Miller of Bishop McCort debuts at No. 1. While Miller may not have all of the international credentials possessed by some of the wrestlers immediately behind him, it's difficult to argue against his place among the best of the best.

This marks our fifth season covering boys high school wrestling nationally, but it's the first time we've ventured into pound-for-pound rankings.

There's a reason for that.

How We Determine the Pound-for-Pound Rankings

Our individual weight-class rankings rely heavily on results and head-to-head data. Pound-for-pound rankings require a different type of analysis. Wrestlers separated by significant weight differences will never meet on the mat, requiring us to evaluate their complete bodies of work — national and international results, head-to-head meetings when available, quality of competition and overall accomplishments — to determine how they stack up against one another.

There are instances in this inaugural Top 10 where wrestlers have met, and we'll address those results in the individual breakdowns. In other cases, comparing wrestlers from the lower and upper weights requires looking beyond direct competition.

A Ranking That Will Evolve Throughout the Season

These rankings won't be static.

We'll update the Pound-for-Pound Top 10 throughout the season as results provide new information, and we want the wrestling community to be part of the conversation.

We welcome opinions, disagreements and suggestions. If you believe there's a wrestler who belongs in the Top 10, tell us not only who we're missing, but why. Give us the case for that wrestler compared with those already on the list.

Questions, comments and suggestions can be sent to Billy Buckheit at billybwrestling@yahoo.com.

High School On SI Boys Pound-for-Pound Top 10

1-Melvin Miller (Bishop McCort, PA) SR

From a skill level, Miller has been making big noise on the high school level from day one and even earlier as he was a Double Champ in the 16U Division at Fargo as an eighth grader. Three Junior Freestyle National Titles have been added since.

One of the few crowns that has alluded Miller is the prestigious one at Ironman. Last year, Miller lost a memorable bout for the ages against Delbarton’s and now Penn State’s, Jayden James. The senior’s hopes of a World Team birth were upended by 2026 NCAA Champion Landon Robideau of Oklahoma State.

2-Grey Burnett (Perrysburg, OH) SR

In the spring of 2025, Burnett earned a spot on the U17 world team by taking home the gold at 55 kilograms at the U.S. Open. One of the challengers Burnett slayed was California’s Rocklin Zinkin. That win is pivotal to him getting the number one spot at 126 pounds ahead of another Californian, Sammy Sanchez (Esperanza), even though Zinkin avenged that loss at the 2025 Brecksville Holiday Tournament.

Burnett went onto earn a bronze at the World Championships in 2025 but could not get back there this year as he fell in the U20 World Team Trials and U.S. Open to Isaiah Cortez (Cornell). Sanchez was in the same 57-kilogram bracket as Burnett at the Open and lost to Cortez as well but then forfeited to sixth place.

Burnett was an Ironman champ last year with a win over another guy on the P4P list, New Jersey’s Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers Academy). The senior also handled Kenny at the U20 Freestyle World Team Trials. Burnett spilt matches at the Clarion Open last fall with Pennsylvania’s Landon Sidun (Norwin), who also has a home in this stratosphere.

3-Sammy Sanchez (Esperanza, CA) JR

Sanchez came into high school on the heels of his first ever U17 World Championship. Following his freshman season, Sanchez earned another shot at world glory and parlayed that into a second straight U17 World Title.

The junior was a freshman state champ at 106 pounds then up at 120 pounds for last year’s states, where he fell to Zinkin, 5-2, in the finals. Since Burnett has a win over Zinkin and his loss was in overtime, we gave him the ever so slight nod over Sanchez for the higher position in the rankings.

4-Landon Sidun (Norwin, PA)

The Keystone State Dynamo has not had any forays into the international realm as he was fourth at the U.S. Open as a freshman, then suffered an injury midway through the sophomore campaign that kept him off the mats until the fall of 2025.

When Sidun has been scraping, he’s set down Zinkin twice (last fall’s Who’s No. 1 and at the 2025 Doc Buchanan Tournament). Sidun also has a win on his ledger over Kenny from his sophomore season at PowerAde.

Sidun is behind Burnett on this list since Burnett won the last of their Clarion Open meetings.

5-Michael Boyle (Bishop Watterson, OH) SR

The rapidly improving Boyle finished off his sophomore year with a second state title and put his name on the national map with a runner-up finish in Junior Freestyle at Fargo that summer. Boyle followed that up with his first undefeated campaign and a third state championship in 2026.

This spring was when Boyle really showed his incredible growth as he put a technical fall loss on Ironman Champ, Maximus Konopka (Greens Farms Academy, CT), en route to winning the U20 U.S. Open Freestyle Title.

After gaining a World Team birth with back-to-back 10-0 techs of Wisconsin’s now graduated Garett Kawczynski at the World Team Trials, Boyle stepped onto the World Stage and shined in the spotlight by capturing a gold medal. The senior rang up a tech fall, 12-2 of Russia’s Radio Sanakoev, in the 97-kilogram U20 World Freestyle Finals.

6-Jimmy Mastny (Marian Central Catholic, IL) SR

Mastny has steadily increased his national standing with each passing year culminating in this year’s breakout performance that saw him end the cycle as an U20 Freestyle World Bronze Medalist at 92 kilograms.

Mastny flashed what was coming at the 2025 Elite 8 Duals when he placed a loss on Indiana’s Michael White, who would spend the majority of the year in the number one spot at 190 pounds. Mastny showed that was no fluke by grabbing a Super 32 Belt at 190 pounds.

Mastny’s lone high school season loss was to White at Ironman. A third-place finish at Ironman at 190 came with a win over Blair Academy’s Salah Tsarni.

Mastny’s body started growing and he was able to stay down at 190 through the season’s first portion, by the time the Cheesehead appeared on the schedule, Mastny had made the move to 215 pounds and would remain there.

Mastny won the U.S. Open in a barnburner with Iowa’s Lincoln Jipp (Bettendorf). Mastny was saddled with a loss by Kawczynski at the Junior National Duals that puts him behind Boyle since Boyle has three wins over Kawczynski.

7-Ariah Mills (Buford, GA) SO

Like Sanchez, Mills made a splash ahead of his freshman year by winning an U17 World Championship. At the 2025 Super 32, Mills made his last appearance at 106 pounds and defeated Kooper Deputy (Chestnut Ridge, PA), who we have as number one at 106 pounds right now but will be shifting to 113 per the Elite 8 Duals rosters.

Mills rolled to a 6A State Crown then went back to work on his national and world resume. At the U.S. Open, Mills earned the world slot at 51 kilograms by sweeping Pennsylvania’s Evan Restivo (State College) in the U17 Finals. As Mills is now up to 120 pounds, we assume an untimely growth spurt (or injury) caused him to relinquish his world title quest to Restivo.

8-Hayden Schwab (Don Bosco, IA) SR

Schwab’s main claim to the fame of being on this list came from pinning Kenny in the bronze bout of the U20 World Team Trials at 57 kilograms. Schwab’s loss there was to Oklahoma State’s Ronnie Ramirez, who Burnett beat.

Schwab was a Junior Freestyle Silver Medalist after getting teched by Sanchez in the 126-pound finals at Fargo.

9-Paul Kenny (Christian Brothers Academy, NJ) SR

Like a few others in this exercise, Kenny brought home an U17 World Championship as an eight grader. Kenny has not been able to revisit the world platform since and this year was derailed by Burnett and Schwab at the WTTs.

Kenny was second at Fargo this year in his final encounter with long-time nemesis Antonio Mills of Georgia. The two-time state champion was also second at Ironman, then won PowerAde and Escape the Rock.

10-Jayden O’Farrill (State College, PA) JR

We were ready to place Tsarni here after he returned from the U17 World Championships with a silver medal in hand, but our detailed record keeping revealed two losses to O’Farrill on Tsarni’s ledger.

The most recent was part of the previous rankings cycle when O’Farrill decked Tsarni at Super 32. Their first meeting was in the 16U 175-pound Freestyle Finals at Fargo in the summer of 2025.

O’Farrill also handled California’s state runner-up Isai Fernandez (St. John Bosco) at Super 32, and the guy who beat Fernandez in the state finals, Mario Carini (Poway), at the Elite 8 Duals.

An injury robbed O’Farrill of his sophomore season, but he came back in the spring to win the 80-kilogram U17 U.S. Open Freestyle Bracket and earn a trip to the World Championships. Tough sledding was found abroad and no medal was earned.

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