Indiana University Wrestling Hauls in No. 23 Recruiting Class

Wrestling Hauls in No. 23 Recruiting Class

 

July 7, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Head Coach Duane Goldman and his staff brought in the No. 23 recruiting class for the 2009-10 season according to Intermat, who released their national top-25 rankings Tuesday.

The Hoosiers will welcome two top-100 individual recruits to Bloomington in the fall, No. 46 Ryan LeBlanc (Morrsville Eaton, N.Y.) and No. 57 Max Ortega (Rio Rancho, N.M.). They each committed during the early signing period and combined as Intermat's 17th-ranked Early Recruiting Class.

Max Ortega, projected in the 141-149 lbs. range, is a four-time New Mexico state champion from Rio Rancho High School. Sound familiar? That's because Max's older brother, Matt, was also a four-time New Mexico state champion and will be a redshirt sophomore on the Hoosier wrestling squad this upcoming winter. Indiana also snagged a big-time recruit from the Empire State, signing two-time New York state champion Ryan LeBlanc. LeBlanc hails from Morrisville-Eaton High School. Both grapplers earned All-American honors at the NHSCA Senior Nationals.

Two other notable IU recruits according to Intermat are Justin Brooks (Warsaw, Ind.) and Tanner Kriss (Colby, Kan.). Brooks was a Junior National All-American in freestyle, while Kriss completed his senior season of high school with a state title.

The Big Ten Conference flexed its muscle in the national rankings as nine of the 11 schools were present in the top-25, including seven Big Ten institutions in the top-13.

---

COMPLETE RANKINGS
1. Oklahoma State
2. Minnesota
3. Oklahoma
4. Nebraska
5. Iowa
6. Penn State
7. Virginia
8. Virginia Tech
9. Michigan
10. Ohio State
11. Old Dominion
12. Purdue
13. Illinois
14. Cal Poly
15. Missouri
16. Stanford
17. Wisconsin
18. Cornell
19. Boise State
20. Wyoming
21. Columbia
22. North Carolina State
23. Indiana
24. West Virginia
25. Lehigh

---

Click here for full breakdowns of each class.

TheOpenMat.com also tabbed Indiana's class No. 23 in the country in their inaugural rankings. Here is what they had to say:

"We expect big things from Coach Goldman's '09 class. First and foremost, Max Ortega, a New Mexico product who won 4 state titles and was a 3x finalist of NHSCA's national class tournament, is the Hoosier's future at 149. Ryan LeBlanc (165) won two NYS titles while Tanner Kriss (197) was crowned three times in Kansas. To supplement these standouts are in-state 4x placer Justin Brooks (125) and GA 2xer, Anthony Fretwell (Locust Grove, Ga.).