Blair Academy (Blairstown, NJ), ranked No. 1 in the latest NHSCA/USA TODAY Super 25 High School Wrestling Rankings produced by High School Football America, all but wrapped-up the national championship Saturday by winning its 35th National Prep School Wrestling Championship in the last 36 years. The Buccaneers won the team championship with 322 points to No. 2 Wyoming Seminary‘s (Kingston, PA) 288.
Blair had seven individual champs — Michael Colaiocco (106 pounds), Chris Cannon (113 pounds), Carol Van Der Merwe (132 pounds), Andrew Merola (145 pounds), Ryan Karoly (160 pounds), Brandon Dallavia (170 pounds) and Chase Singletary (195 pounds).
SEM, which has finished runner-up in seven of the last eight National Prep championships, had four individual champs. In 2014, Seminary beat Blair, which snapped the Bucs run for 33 straight national titles.
The return to the top of the heap for Blair comes after it began the season finishing second to Wyoming Seminary in the Ironman in Ohio, which knocked the Bucs out of the No. 1 spot that was given to them in our preseason rankings. Then in January, Blair beat the Blue Knight 35-20 in their annual dual meet.
No. 24 Malvern Prep (Malvern, PA) finished third in the team chase with 197 points.
Also shaping the new rankings that will come-out on Wednesday:
- No. 15 Apple Valley (Apple Valley, MN) won its 11th straight Minnesota Class AAA Team Dual Championship by beating No. 20 St. Michael-Albertville (Albertville, MN) 31-26 in the finals.
- No. 8 Oak Park River Forest (Oak Park, IL) won its third straight Illinois 3A by beating No. 17 Marmion Academy (Aurora, IL) 33-24 in the championship round.
- No. 16 Washington (Washington, IL) won the 2A dual team title. In the semifinals, Washington beat No. 13 and previously undefeated Mount Carmel (Chicago).
