As a little shake-up to the usual content from New York Wrestling News, we go through the top recruits from the 2020’s graduating classes and touch on what happened after their high school careers concluded.
Stay tuned for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Class of 2020
Greg Diakomihalis (Hilton): The former 5x state champ hailing out of Hilton has wrestled at Cornell for the duration of his college career. While being one of the highest ranked prospects in the nation in the Class of 2020, Diakomihalis unfortunately battled injuries most of his career. He closed out his fifth year season by going 12-11 overall, and placed fourth at the Ivy League Championships.
Zach Redding (Eastport-South Manor): Redding competed at both Iowa State and NC State where he has saw success at both schools. He qualified 3x for the NCAA Championships and has wrestled anywhere from 133lbs to 149lbs throughout the duration of his career. He placed third at the ACC Championships and landed on the Big 12 podium twice where he finished second and third. At his final NCAA Championships this year, he’d get injured in his opening round bout against fellow New Yorker Tyler Ferrara and medically forfeit out of the tournament, closing his career.
AJ Kovacs (Iona Prep): Kovacs spent his career at NC State where he split time in tough lineup battles. He saw most of his action during the 2021-22 season where he put together a record of 17-7 as the starter and held wins over two different NCAA qualifiers. During the 2022-23 offseason he placed eighth at the U20 U.S. Open at 70kg.
Ryan Burgos (Hilton): Burgos closed his career as a 2x NCAA qualifier for Edinboro and started his career at 141lbs and would end it at 165lbs. He would qualify for the NCAA Championships for the first time in 2022-23 where he put together a record of 16-7. He’d also qualify this past year in his final lap around donning a collegiate season, and also up two weights at 165lbs. He would notably win the Michigan State Open and knock off Mac Church, a former NCAA qualifier.
Anthony Noto (Honeoye Falls-Lima): After an illustrious high school career where he would become Honeoye Fall-Lima’s first ever state champion, Noto would take his talents to Lock Haven where his success would continue. He would qualify 4x for the NCAA Championships and would earn All-American honors twice throughout the course of his career at 125lbs, picking up 3rd and 4th place finishes. The year that Noto would place 4th he would earn wins over the likes of Eric Barnett, Killian Cardinale, and Liam Cronin. Cronin is now one of the top contenders on the U.S. Olympic Ladder at 57kg. The year that Noto would take 3rd he would knock off Matt Ramos in the quarterfinals, and Ramos was infamously known for his fall over Spencer Lee in the NCAA semifinals the year before. In each of the seasons that he would All-American, he was never seeded higher than eighth. After being an assistant coach at Lock Haven last year, Noto has now announced he plans to compete again internationally.
Justin McDougald (Niagara Wheatfield): McDougald was a 5x state medalist and came through his senior season where he won a state title for Niagara Wheatfield. McDougald would stay local and take his talents to Division I program Buffalo for one collegiate season. After that he would transfer to SUNY Niagara and wrestle for their NJCAA program for one season. He put together a successful season, ultimately reaching the blood round of the NJCAA Championships at 165lbs. The 2021-22 season was the last time he would be seen on a college roster.
Willie McDougald (Niagara Falls): The two-time state champ out of Section VI was ranked 17th in the nation at 145lbs once his high school career concluded, and he started by taking his talents to Oklahoma in the Big 12 for five seasons before finishing his final year at West Virginia. Willie would qualify 4x for the NCAA Division I Championships and put together a career record of 62-37. One of his best wins came over Ethen Miller (Maryland) at the 2024 NCAA Championships where he would nab a late takedown to win his opening round bout 5-4. Another great win would come during the 2024-25 season where he would beat Oklahoma State’s Carter Young in tiebreakers during their dual.
Tommy Askey (Pine Bush): Askey would close his high school career with a cherry on top as he won a state title over reigning state champ AJ Kovacs (Iona Prep) 8-5. Kovacs at the time was nationally ranked while Askey was not. Askey would spend most of his career at App State where he would win two Southern Conference titles and qualify twice for the NCAA Championships, including a blood round appearance at the 2024 NCAA’s. His final season would be at Big 10 powerhouse Minnesota where he grinded through his fifth and final year. He would major Brandon Cannon (Ohio State), and also knock off New York legend Jacori Teemer (Iowa) at the Big 10 tournament in tiebreakers. He would qualify for his third consecutive NCAA Championships and end his career in the blood round for the second time. Askey is now a coach at the KD Training Center back in New York State.
Brady Worthing (Tioga): Worthing was a 2019 state champ and 2x state runner-up for Section IV powerhouse Tioga. After finishing out his senior year he would wrestle for Clarion, a Division I program in the MAC conference. He would wrestle four seasons at Clarion where he finished with a career record of 11-20.
