Vote: Who is the National High School Upper Weight Wrestler of the Week? (12/17/2024)

Here are 8 nominees for your voting consideration

Council Rock South's Gavin Cole won the PennStro Leasing Kick-Off Tournament at 172. / Daniella Heminghaus / USA TODAY NETWORK

The 2024-25 high school wrestling season is fully underway and now it is time cast your vote for our weekly National High School Upper Weight Wrestler of the Week.

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Congratulations to last week's winner Riley McPherson of Brecksville (Ohio).

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Here is this week's list of nominees. Voting ends at 11:59 PT on Dec. 22.

Matt Dimen (Wyoming Seminary, PA) 145

Dimen’s squad was coming off a fourth-place finish at Ironman and went into Faith Christian Academy’s gym on Friday night. The Lions captured the glory at Ironman, but on this night, Dimen’s upset of honorable mention and Ironman placer, Mason Wagner, 4-3 UTB, was one of the keys to Seminary getting back on top. Dimen was 0-2 at Ironman.

Ben Hegler (Brecksville, OH) 150

In their dual meet with Perrysburg at the Roughneck Duals, Hegler, who is unranked nationally, posted a 7-2 win over Kaden Soto, who is No. 20 at 144lbs.

Cooper Rowe (Mound-Westonka, MN) 157

Rowe captured the top honors at the Paul Bunyon Tournament by authoring a 4-3 UTB victory over Becker, Minnesota’s Kaden Nicolas (No. 24 at 144).

Zack Aquila (Brecksville, OH) 157

Aquila was in the rankings until a sub-par showing at Ironman moved him out. At the Roughneck Duals, Aquila bounced back with a big win in the dual with Perrysburg when he upset Cole Evans (No. 10 at 150), 5-4.

Arment Waltenbaugh (The Hill School, PA) 160

Waltenbaugh shocked everyone on hand at the Panther Holiday Classic when he didn’t just win his finals’ match, but dominated and shutout No. 13 Kross Cassidy (Fairfax, VA), 11-0.

Vince Bouzakis (Wyoming Seminary, PA) 160

Bouzakis missed the Ironman tournament for undisclosed reasons. Whatever they were, Bouzakis shook them off in the dual meet with Faith Christian Academy and played a large role in his squad reversing their loss to the Lions at Ironman by defeating No. 10 Cael Weidemoyer, by major decision, 13-3. Bouzakis was unranked because of his absence at Ironman.

Gavin Cole (Council Rock South, PA) 172

The unranked Cole faced off with No. 29 Connor Wetzel (Shikellamy, PA) in the finals of the PennStro Leasing Kick-Off Tournament and handed his adversary a 4-1 loss.

Luke Randazzo (Loyola Blakefield, MD) 285

In the finals of the Raymond Oliver Tournament, Randazzo met No. 23 Cael DeNigris (Delaware Military Academy, DE), who he had beaten two years ago. Since that time, DeNigris has emerged nationally, but nothing has changed between the two as Randazzo rolled to a 15-5 major decision.