Breaking Down The 132lb Four Man At Who's #1
Breaking Down The 132lb Four Man At Who's #1
Breaking down all four wrestlers in the 132-pound mini bracket at Who's #1 this weekend at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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It's Who's #1 week! Where the all-important question will finally be answered: Who is, in fact, number one?
This Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa, 21 of the nation's premier high school wrestlers (plus a top-flight graduate) will be on display for the entire country, battling for the top spot at their respective weight classes.
Sat. Oct. 5 | 6 PM Eastern
Typically, WNO is just a matchup of the top two guys in a given weight. Occasionally, though, we need to invite four athletes because they all have a legitimate claim to the highest ranking, which is exactly the case for 132 this year.
The night freestyle ended in Fargo, we already had the first matchup set: Cadet world teamer Jesse Mendez (Crown Point, IN) against Junior champ Dom Serrano (Windsor, CO). They had an excellent 7-7 battle in the Akron semis, which Mendez won with a massive five-point throw before the break.
But we quickly realized two others had a case to be made to be invited to Iowa: Shayne Van Ness (Blair Academy, NJ) and Ryan Jack (Danbury, CT). Their strongest resume point was Super 32 last October, when Jack beat both Mendez and Serrano en route to the finals, where he fell to Van Ness.
A new wrinkle this year, the higher-ranked man gets to pick the style for their WNO match. Based on the current rankings, both #1 Mendez and #2 Serrano have chosen for their bouts to be freestyle. They'll kick off the event, with Mendez facing #4 Jack and then Serrano against #3 Van Ness being the first matches, and then finish it off as the 12th and final contest of the evening.
Let's get everyone up to speed on what to expect out of these four this weekend.
#1 Jesse Mendez: Indiana
High School: Crown Point
Club: Region Wrestling Academy/Bulldog Premier WC
- 2019 Cadet World Teamer
- 2019 Indiana State Champ
- 2018 FloNats Third
The only sophomore in the event, Mendez is ranked third on the 2022 Big Board. He and his family have just started reviewing their college options, so at this point, there should be a ton of fan bases keeping tabs on him. In his freshman season, Mendez went undefeated and won the toughest bracket in single class Indiana, winning a weight with two former state champs in it.
After a full spring and summer of freestyle, it's no surprise he chose the Olympic style for his match with Jack. He won FloNats and Akron, making both the Pan Am team and the world team. His only loss of the summer came to Azerbaijan at the world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. Months of time spent with our nation's best coaches should help his edge savvy, like the kind we saw on display against Anthony Ferrari in June.
Year over year, his points per match were about the same in Akron, suggesting he kept his high pace, but this time around he won instead of falling in the bloodround. Why? He cleaned things up, especially his leg defense. Additionally, he expanded beyond a tricep carry, got guys up off the mat, and blew matches open with his par terre offense. I believe the leg lace will be his key to victory over Jack in the first match.
#2 Dominick Serrano: Colorado
High School: Windsor
Club: Bear Cave WC
- Two-time Fargo champ
- Three-time Colorado state champ
- Committed to Nebraska
Serrano has always made his name in freestyle. A three-time Fargo finalist with titles the past two years, the Colorado native was excelling even before he could win stop signs. He and Mendez were teammates together on a Schoolboy Pan Am team back in 2016, and Serrano has basically been at the same weight ever since.
The book on Serrano hasn't changed much: He waits to strike but is quick when he does, with a low center of gravity, sometimes even to the point of being in a three-point stance. He explodes out of that low stance on his double, oftentimes putting himself in a position to get 4s and making it difficult for his opponents to scramble.
I think Serrano should have the advantage stylistically, and won't be shy about putting his hands on Van Ness. He likely won't give up the go behinds Van Ness relies on since he's a pretty crisp shooter with very clean re-attacks. Additionally, his gut wrench is an underrated facet of his game.
#3 Shayne Van Ness: New Jersey
High School: Blair Academy
Club: Blairstown WC
- Super 32 champ
- Ironman champ
- Beast of the East champ
Like many Blair legends before him, Van Ness had to ride the pine for a year, waiting for his opportunity to break into the lineup. But he made the most of it, notching wins over the likes of Jordan Decatur and Beau Bartlett during his reign of terror this fall and winter. His run pushed him into the top five of the Junior Big Board, where he is currently the #3 prospect from the Class of 2021.
It's easy to see why schools like Penn State, Rutgers, and Iowa State have already expressed interest in Van Ness. He competes hard and already has a college-level pace, but his leg defense against the highest level guys needs work.
The son of former Rutgers legend Rodney Van Ness, his worst performance to date came in Akron. There, he was teched by Caleb Rathjen in the first round and then had to injury default out of his backside match. That nearly kept him out of Who's #1, but when you have wins over three guys who have wrestled here, it's hard to justify not giving a shot.
#4 Ryan Jack: Connecticut
High School: Danbury
Club: Empire Wrestling Academy
- 2019 NHSCA champ
- 2018 Super 32 runner-up
- Committed to NC State
Of all these guys we probably see Jack the least, but that's only because he rarely if ever wrestles freestyle. He will certainly be our first athlete from Connecticut to make an appearance at WNO.
The younger brother of three-time All-American Kevin Jack, Ryan verballed to the Wolfpack a while back. Like Kevin, as well as current NCST 125 Jakob Camacho and future Raleigh resident AJ Kovacs, Ryan trains with the Empire Wrestling Academy, a fixture at events like Journeymen and FloNats.
Although he wrestles little to no freestyle, his neutral style based style will be fine for it. His match with Serrano will be a battle of top-15 recruits, as the seniors are ranked #9 and #12 respectively on the 2020 Big Board.
It should be noted, though, that his win over Serrano at Super 32 was 2-1 in the ultimate tiebreaker, and that in his 6-4 win over Jesse Mendez, he scored all his points in the third period, including a reversal and nearfall.
Here is the all-time history of four man brackets at WNO.
2013
132lbs. - Fredy Stroker (Team Bubba) dec Seth Gross (Team JO), 4-3
132lbs. - Michael Kemerer (Team Bubba) dec Zac Hall (Team JO), 3-1
132lbs - Fredy Stroker (Team Bubba) dec Michael Kemerer (Team Bubba), 3-1
2015
132lbs. - Chad Red (Team Black) dec Taylor Lamont (Team Black), 5-2
132lbs. - Luke Pletcher (Team Green) dec Yianni Diakomihalis (Team Green), 6-5
132lbs. - Chad Red (Team Black) dec Luke Pletcher (Team Green), 3-1
2018
138lbs. - JoJo Aragona (Team Green) dec Gabe Tagg (Team Black), 8-4
138lbs. - Keegan O'Toole (Team Black) maj dec Jaden Abas (Team Green), 8-0
138lbs. - JoJo Aragona (Team Green) dec Keegan O'Toole (Team Black), 5-2