With the holiday break in the books the calendar turning a new year, high school winter sports action as geared back up to full throttle and that includes the action on the mat for high school wrestling as the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association have released their first set of rankings post holiday break.

In this set of rankings 17 area wrestlers are ranked from Class 4A and under and three area teams are ranked also.

Starting off in Class 4A the Holton Wildcats have been dominating their opponents on the mat all season individually and as a team, most recently with a dominate performance at the Burlington Invite winning the action by a margin of 79 points as a team. Those dominate performances has helped the Wildcats jump into the top 10 as a team as they are ranked ninth in 4A's lastest poll as a team.

The Wildcats have been lead by many wrestlers all season on the mat and four of them find themselves in the latest set of KWCA rankings. All four have been in the rankings this season and remained in the rankings as they continue to perform well this season. In the heavyweight division of 285lbs, junior, Cooper Zeller as been leading the Wildcats as he has a perfect 14-0 record this season, he as jumped up to second in the latest poll. The next highest Wildcat is senior, Hunter Price who ranks third in the 120lb weight class; he is 16-1 on the season with 10 pinfall victories. Lane Lassiter remained ranked in the 145lb weight class as the senior ranks fifth in the latest poll with his 15-2 record this season. Lastly, sophomore, Lucas Lovvorn remained tied for sixth in the 138lb weight class with his 13-2 record this year.

Two other area wrestlers remained ranked in Class 4A also as Royal Valley senior, Tanner Ogden checks in at number four in the 152lb weight class and Justin Scott of Jeff West remains number one in the 220lb weight class for the Tigers. Ogden recently was named to the All tournament at the Topeka Seaman Dual Tournament this past weekend.

In Class 3A, the Sabetha Bluejays and ACCHS Tigers wrestling squads continue to have stellar season as both remain in the top 10 of the team rankings with Sabetha at number eight and ACCHS at nine in the latest polls.

The Bluejays have two ranked wrestlers who continue have great seasons this year as our reigning boys "Athlete of the Week," Levi Huneke with his perfect 16-0 record remained at number two in the 182lb weight class after a 4-0 Rossville Invitational. This teammate, Tyler Edelman continues to be ranked number one in the 195lb weight class with a 14-2 record this season and a perfect 3-0 weekend at the Rossville Invitational.

For the ACCHS Tigers they continue to have three wrestlers ranked as sophomore, Logan Bowen ranks third in the 120lb weight class, sophomore, Willy Dieckmann ranks fourth in the 126lb weight class and senior, Taylor Schuetz ranks fifth in the 160lb weight class. Schuetz recently took first place in his weight class at the Rossville Invitational.

Pleasant Ridge, Centralia, Onaga and Marysville all have wrestlers ranked in the Class 3A rankings by KWCA. For the Rams, its senior, Jared Johnson leading the way with his performances as he continues to dominate remaining at the number one spot in the weight class of 170lbs, after winning at the Rossville Invitational this weekend. This teammate, senior Clayton Gum also performed well at the Rossville Invite with a second place finish in the 106lb weight class and now is ranked sixth in his weight class.

For the Marysville Bulldogs seniors, Josh Goepfert and James Landoll both continue to remain ranked this season as Goepfert checks in at number three in the 113lb weight class and Landoll at number four in the 138lb weight class. Both Goepfert and Landoll won their weight classes with undefeated days at the Beatrice Tournament over the weekend.

Junior, Andrew Beck as been ranked all season and stays in the rankings this week for the Centralia Panthers as the ranks fifth in the 132lb weight class, while Onaga Buffalo senior, Mychal Kolterman makes his first appearance in the rankings this year coming in at number five in the heavyweight division (285lbs).

For the full list of latest KWCA rankings (see below links)

Class 4A -- Jan. 8th rankings
Class 3A -- Jan. 8th rankings