2021-22 Greco-Roman Domestic Rankings

55 kilograms

The rankings are back to baseline, as the 2020 Olympic Trials were responsible for resetting the points and criteria-breaking head-to-head concerns. In other words, the moment action wrapped in Fort Worth on the night before Easter, everyone received a clean slate. 

But there have been tournaments — five, to be exact, three of which offer point accumulations for individuals. 

— U.S. Senior Nationals (April)

— Pan-American Championships (May)

— World Team Trials Last Chance Qualifier

The two tournaments not yielding points for U.S. athletes were the Wladyslaw Pytlasinski Memorial in June and the Tokyo Olympics. Americans competed at both events, but there were no placewinners. 

Explanations

Athletes are not rewarded points relative to placing in age-group events (domestic or international). However, wrestlers are still eligible to be ranked based on the strength of their performances below the Senior level. 

Three examples would be Taylor LaMont, Nic Bouzakis, and Chayse LaJoie. LaMont, who was a US National Team member at 60 kilograms in ‘19, won the U23 World Team Trials in May -- at 55 kilograms. Given that LaMont a) defeated fellow recent National Teamer Brady Koontz in the U23 finals and b) was already an established Senior prior to that event, slotting him in at #2 ahead of Koontz even though he does not hold any point values was the appropriate call. 

Bouzakis and LaJoie — fresh off of the Junior World Championships — are also currently without ranking points. Nor do they have relevant Senior sample sizes of which to speak prior to the World Team Trials (as of press time, Bouzakis isn’t even registered). But with a new Olympic cycle now having commenced, and with turnover abound, both wrestlers figure to begin playing a substantial role coming up quite soon.

55 kg

Max Nowry (Army/WCAP) earned his third National title in April and his third Pan-Ams gold a month later, which on points alone easily elevates him to the top of the field. LaMont, as mentioned, doesn’t hold any points but his U23 series win over Koontz (along with an intent to perhaps continue on at 55 come the spring) are enough for #2. Elsewhere, Billy Sullivan (LOG-LV) by virtue of his decisive pair of wins at the expense of Cole Smith (Army/WCAP) in July see him just miss out on the top-5 for his Senior rankings debut, as Dalton Duffield (Army/WCAP) is too logical of a fit one spot ahead.