Last season, a well respected wrestling publication claimed there were two national championship teams – Apple Valley High School from Minnesota and St. Paris Graham High School from Ohio. Only one of these two teams went undefeated – Apple Valley. The other, St. Paris – Graham, lost to Blair Academy in an an individual tournament, later avenging the loss in a dual. HSWrestling.Net selected Apple Valley as sole champion as a result of their season’s body of work which included a Cheesehead Invite, Clash Duals, and Minnesota state championship.

The mythical national championship presented each year by HSWrestling.Net takes many factors into account when selecting the champion. A combination of dual meet and individual tournament scoring potential are used when finalizing the voting process.

How will you decide between Apple Valley and St. Paris Graham this season?

While the Apple Valley wrestlers and other media outlets might be ready to hand over the 2011 National Championship to Apple Valley we have probable cause to wait until the season is over before making such a declaration.  While Apple Valley has proven themselves to be a very strong dual meet team their inability to secure championship hardware at the Cheesehead everywhere but 152 leaves their individual tournament success in question.

The Cheesehead, while an individual tournament format, is scored for team points significantly different than Ironman and Beast of the East.  You have to ask yourself, would Apple Valley win both of these tournaments this season? If you start plugging Apple Valley wrestlers into Ironman brackets you might be a bit surprised at the outcome.

What could win St. Paris Graham the National Title?

Apple Valley, the two time defending HS Wrestling National Champions, have to lose the title.  This can be done in one of two ways:

Apple Valley Loses: Either to St. Paris Graham directly or to a common opponent in a common event format (eg. Blair Academy – Dual Meet)

Apple Valley Doesn’t Win Enough: State Tournament performance, especially when comparing teams that did not directly compete all year, is weighed  very heavily. We expect Apple Valley to have 8 state champions and St. Paris to have 5.  If either falls significantly short of this mark they could see their ranking drop.