Upsets, Dominance and Drama Define Flo Wrestling’s Who’s No. 1 Boys Showcase

From Camryn Howard’s controversial win to the Mills brothers’ commanding performances, top-ranked wrestlers clashed in Coralville for national bragging rights

Nick Singer of Faith Christian Academy (Pa.) upset Oklahoma wrestler Joseph Jeter for the 175-pound title at Flo's Who's No. 1. / Harrison Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After the fireworks of the Girls’ Showcase on Saturday afternoon, it was time for the Boys to take center stage at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa, for Flo Wrestling’s Who’s No. 1. It’s an event with a simple concept, pit the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked guys against each other to determine the number one ranking.

Best vs. Best: The Battle for No. 1

A few of the discrepancies with whom we have at No. 1 versus Flo are due to them having a few of our number ones in different weights than us. We will notate those as we get to them. The Girls competed under Freestyle rules. The Boys used Collegiate Folkstyle guidelines, so that meant three-minute first periods and riding time.

Controversy Strikes Early at 157 Pounds

In a lot of instances, the riding time point is just incidental icing on the cake that is irrelevant to the outcome. The first time it came into play on Saturday night, riding time was not inconsequential, as it decided the winner at 157 pounds. New York’s Camryn Howard (Bellport) avoided overtime at the end of regulation with the score tied at six due to holding over a minute of that precious time. That point was what declared Howard the victor over No. 2 Wyatt Medlin (Washington, Illinois), 7-6.

At first, it seemed unrealized that Howard should flat out win as both were beginning to line up for overtime when the point being included at the end, eliminated overtime. Once that came to light, the Illinois coach was visibly displeased and had a look of disbelief when it hit him that, indeed, the match was over with no overtime contested. A twist due to the NCAA rules that would not normally occur in high school wrestling.

Flo has our No. 1 at 157 pounds, Jayden James at 165 pounds, which would make Medlin our No. 1 as well. Howard came in at No. 11 in our report and No. 2 in Flo’s. We weren’t so generous with our placement of Howard since he was coming up from a lighter weight (138/145 last year) to 157 pounds. Howard did win a 16U Fargo Freestyle crown at 157 but didn’t defeat any of the higher ups in doing so.

Howard has no losses on his resume to anyone ahead of him in our report, so this win will catapult him to the top spot at 157pounds. Howard’s most recent losses came last spring at the U.S. Open to Colorado’s Austin Collins and Illinois’ Rocco Cassioppi. The sophomore’s biggest win at Fargo came over No. 13 Justus Heeg (Providence Catholic, IL).

Singer’s Statement Win Over Jeter Turns Heads

Pennsylvania’s Nicholas Singer (Faith Christian Academy) and the 175-pound rankings were discussed in detail in the intro to the latest Boys’ National Rankings by High School on SI. Flo’s placement of Singer at No. 2 over Maryland’s Salah Tsarni, now at New Jersey’s Blair Academy, was the catalyst for that analysis.

This weight is another where our No. 1 175-pounder, Illinois’ Aaron Stewart (Warren Township), is at a different weight in Flo’s (190). We both had Oklahoma’s Joseph Jeter (Edmond North) as our top-dog at 175 pounds, we have Singer at four behind Stewart and Tsarni.

Jeter is a highly decorated wrestler, but with his coming up in weight from 175 pounds, perhaps we were too zealous with his initial positioning. Singer blazed Jeter, building a 10-2 lead by the end of the second period. Two takedowns came in the first with an escape and one more takedown in the second. That was essentially it for the scoring after an escape from Jeter made it 11-5. One more point was gained on riding time to push the final count to 12-5.

Singer was a joy to watch. He was constantly smiling, and you could just see that he felt like he was living his best life, and the results speak to that. At the end, a gracious Singer stayed on the mat and shared a moment of prayer on their knees with Jeter.

If Stewart is out, Tsarni would go to one, with Singer behind him in the number two spot. Jeter will fall to third. The order of Tsarni and Singer was established at the U.S. Open where Tsarni was second to Singer’s eighth, with two common opponent wins. Jeter has no relationship with Tsarni, just Singer, so he will move down.

Florida’s DeKraker Gains Revenge

The third upset came from No. 3 Tyler DeKraker (Lake Highland Prep, Florida) who gained revenge on No. 2 Kellen Wolbert (Oconomowoc, Wisconsin) for a 9-6 loss at Fargo. DeKraker exploded for a throw-by out of the gate and went to work with a leg ride. After that, all the points were defensive or penalty based as they traded escapes, and DeKraker was warned and hit for stalling in the final frame to make the ending count, 4-3. We both share these rankings, but Joe Bachmann (Faith Christian Acdemy, PA) is our current number one at 138 pounds.

The Mills Brothers Continue Their Reign

The Mills Brothers shined as both held onto their rankings over the wrestler sitting right behind them in the rankings. World Champion, No. 1 Ariah (Athens Christian), blitzed No. 2 Turner Ross (Edmond North, Oklahoma), with an 11-1 major decision. Mills’ first takedown came on a spin behind off a Ross shot. The next two were low singles that were beautifully turned into takedowns. Ariah posted one takedown per period over a foe he beat 12-1 in Freestyle at the U.S. Open.

Antonio Mills (No. 2 in our rankings) faced No. 3 Paul Kenny of New Jersey’s Christian Brothers Academy at 126 pounds. The two met before, resulting in two one-point wins in Freestyle at the World Team Trails (5-4) and Fargo (10-9). The bout we got here was more in line with the high scoring affair but lots of action didn’t result in as many points, and in the end, it was another one-point win for Antonio, 7-6.

Antonio has a knack for pulling out last second wins and did that here trailing 6-4 late in the match. With time expiring Antonio worked a single leg up to his feet and dumped Kenny back for the winning score. Antonio’s match was third on the 12-match card and Ariah’s came in the middle as the sixth bout.

Flo has Antonio Mills at No. 1 with Kenny as No. 2 at 126 pounds, which overlooks our number one’s win over Mills at the Grappler Fall Classic of 2024. Grey Burnett (Perrysburg, Ohio), who is number three in their report, handled Mills, 11-3, there. At this level, when it comes to assessing the wrestlers, a win that is relatively new, and the only meeting between the two should not be forgotten. 

Sidun Shines in His Return from Injury

The No. 1 for both publications at 120 pounds, Landun Sidun (Norwin, Pennsylvania), sat aside and waited to see who he would face later in the night between No. 2 Rocklin Zinkin (Buchanan, CA) and No. 3 Dominic Munaretto (St. Charles East). Our rankings align there as well.

Zinkin stuck Munaretto in the middle of the middle frame, 3:57 (remember, 3:00 first periods). Zinkin caught Munaretto in a cradle in the first and leveraged back points to go up 5-0. Munaretto chose down and got the escape point then caught Zinkin dead to rights on a shot and worked for a takedown. At 5-5, Zinkin would put Munaretto to sleep after fighting off a tilt attempt for a reversal and catching the Illinoian on his back for the fall.

This set up a 2025 Doc Buchanan Finals match with Sidun and Zinkin, which Sidun won, 5-3. This one was different. Sidun suffered an injury shortly after Doc B that kept him off the mats for the whole Olympic Style season. Sidun did not look rusty at all, in fact, he looked better than ever, showcasing incredible conditioning and a motor that kept going.

Two powerful double leg takedowns in the opening stanza put Sidun up 6-2. Zinkin earned a third escape in the second and would add one more in the third for his only points. After going scoreless in the second, Sidun kicked it up a notch in the third, overwhelming Zinkin with a single leg to the back for four-points adding to the final 13-4 tally.

Flo has moved Pennsylvania’s Jax Forrest (Bishop McCort) to number one at 138 pounds. Our latest report still has Forrest at 132 pounds. If we had Forrest at 138, that would leave us with the same top two at 132 pounds as Flo, as our No. 2 Jayden Rayney (Union County, Kentucky) and No. 3 Moses Mendoza (Gilroy, California) would slide up one spot each.

Their match featured a lot of jostling but no points in the first. Rayney hit a sweet ankle pick in the second after a Mendoza escape to go up 3-1. In the final frame, a takedown with a cradle ended with Raney decking Mendoza halfway through the period, 6:02.

Pennsylvania’s Power Trio Delivers Again

Three other Pennsylvanians were favored in their bouts and brought about the expected results as wins were pocketed by Faith Christian’s No. 1 Adam Waters (190 pounds) and two from Bishop McCort, No. 1 Bo Bassett (150) and No. 1 Melvin Miller (165 pounds).

Bassett was set to have an all-star showdown versus No. 1 at 144 pounds, Jordyn Raney (Union County), when an unfortunate ending came. With the two showing off some mad hand fighting, Bassett hit a shot that Raney retreated from. At some point during that sequence, the injury happened, as Raney came to his feet with a gate in his step, favoring his left ankle. The injury was exasperated by a second, continuous flow shot from Bassett about 30 seconds in.

That would be the final action as Raney tried to shake it off after being attended to for some time by the trainers. Raney walked around the mat, with a limp, in obvious pain. A pain not just from the injury but the ill-fated timing of it that was going to rob him of this moment. As Raney fought back tears, then gave into them, he mouthed to his coach, “I can’t”. Hugs from his coaches and Bassett followed Raney’s decision to medically forfeit.

Miller did get his moment in the sun, and it was with No. 3 Maximus Dhabolt from Iowa’s Ankeny Centennial. At the recent Elite 8 Duals, Miller teched Dhabolt twice. Dhabolt was determined to not let that happen again and for two periods hung tough with the score being 8-5 at the close of the second, with Dhabolt adding a reversal to his count. Miller opened up in the third, eventually posting a 19-8 major decision.

Waters was facing World Bronze medalist, Tanner Hodgins (Howell, New Jersey) in his encounter that ended with a scoreless first period. Waters escaped then hit a sweet single leg for what would ultimately be the winning points in the second. Hodgins earned an escape point in the last two periods to bring the final to 4-2.

Hodgins is sixth in our ratings and second in Flo’s. Hodgins spilt with Delbarton’s No. 7 C.J. Betz at states last year and has a loss to Illinois’ No. 4 Jimmy Mastny (Marian Central Catholic) from last year’s Brian Keck Preseason Nationals keeping him lower in our system.

Heavyweight Chess Match Caps the Night

The next to last match at heavyweight had No. 2 Colby Merrill (JW North, California) facing No. 3 Michael Mocco (Cardinal Gibbons, Florida). The No. 1 big guy, Iowa’s Dreshaun Ross (Fort Dodge), sat this one out, but has beaten Merrill in close matches three times (U.S. Open, World Team Trials, and Fargo).

According to our records, Ross and Mocco have never met, but Mocco has squared off with Merrill on two previous occasions, losing 9-0 at the World Team Trials and 9-4 in Fargo. This would have a different tale as it was a defensive struggle with Mocco finding a way to shut his nemesis’ offense down.

In the second period, they were both warned and then hit for stalling for the only scoring of the 1-1 chess match. You could see Merrill’s use of weight and leverage as it allowed him to accrue a riding point that would be valuable in a match that saw him only add an escape in the third to the book. Merrill later collected another stalling point and that with the riding time equaled the 4-1 final.

I discussed Flo’s rankings alongside of us for informational purposes and add texture to the story. In cases where I did not mention a difference it was because our rankings were the same. The comparisons of the rankings are nice to make. It shines a light on how we’re stacking up. Overall, we both did a pretty good job of slotting both the boys and girls. There will always be upsets and we’ve talked about them here for rankings purposes.

I believe in transparency and wish time allowed me to do things like this more often. But with this being about Who’s No. 1 it felt appropriate to deep dive a bit.

Match results in order with Flo’s Rankings

120 lbs - #2 Rocklin Zinkin, California over #3 Domenic Munaretto, Illinois (F 3:57)

165 lbs - #1 Melvin Miller, Pennsylvania over #3 Maximus Dhabolt, Iowa (MD 19-8)

126 lbs - #1 Antonio Mills, Georgia over #2 Paul Kenny, New Jersey (DEC 7-6)

157 lbs - #2 Camryn Howard, New York over #1 Wyatt Medlin, Illinois (DEC 7-6)

190 lbs - #1 Adam Waters, Pennsylvania over #2 Tanner Hodgins, New Jersey (DEC 4-2)

106 lbs - #1 Ariah Mills, Georgia over #2 Turner Ross, Oklahoma (MD 11-1)

175 lbs - #2 Nicholas Singer, Pennsylvania over #1 Joseph Jeter, Oklahoma (DEC 12-5)

138 lbs - #3 Tyler DeKraker, Florida over #2 Kellen Wolbert, Wisconsin (DEC 4-3)

132 lbs - #1 Jayden Raney, Kentucky over #2 Moses Mendoza, California (F 7-2)

120 lbs - #1 Landon Sidun, Pennsylvania over #2 Rocklin Zinkin, California (MD 13-4)

285 lbs - #2 Colby Merrill, California over #3 Michael Mocco, Florida (DEC 4-1)

150 lbs - #1 Bo Bassett, Pennsylvania over #1 (144) Jordyn Raney, Kentucky (DEF 0:34)