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Few competitors ever have as dominant of a high school wrestling career as Bishop McCort’s (PA) Bo Bassett. Bassett, considered by many to be a prodigy of sort, has won everything there is to win.
He is 98-0 in high school career with one state championship (he was barred from competing in the state tournament as a freshman). He’s won the country’s biggest nation tournaments (Ironman, Powerade and Super 32) three times, and he’s a former age-level World Champion who already holds victories over senior-level competitors and former college national champions in freestyle.
Simply put, Bassett is one of the most dominant high school wrestlers in history. Oh, and did we mention that he his only a high school junior?
But while most wrestling fans are impressed with Bassett’s performances, others are crying foul. See, Bassett is on the older side of his high school class after being held back prior to high school. He’s currently 18 years old and will be 19 for the entire of his senior season. This has led to fans alleging that he’s age doping, a form of cheating where you’re competing against opponents who are physically inferior due to your age. Age doping is most commonly discussed in youth baseball and youth soccer across the globe.
The truth is that he should be in college. I am sure has enough high school credits to graduate. He could redshirt next year and be ready to go the next.
— Joseph Pierre (@JPierreX7) January 2, 2025
But herein lies the problem. Bassett is not breaking any rules. He’s still eligible to compete in high school and when he competes in freestyle tournaments, he does so at the U20 age level. So nothing he’s doing is actually against the rules. Bassett also isn’t the only one doing this. Holding kids back for physical development is fairly prevalent in the wrestling word. So many of his opponents are his age or thereabout.
He is, however, absolutely destroying the competition. In 24 matches this year, Bassett has yet to go the full six minutes once. He has nine pins and 15 technical falls (matches end when a wrestler gets up by 15 or more points).
Unsurprisingly, he’s being recruited by just about every college program in the nation. Bassett has not yet decided where he’ll wrestle in college, but in his latest recruiting update he listed Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pitt-Johnstown, Rutgers, Virginia Tech as the remaining options.
(Bassett is a Johnstown native).
Unsurprisingly, he is the top-ranked recruit in the 2026 class according to MatScouts, with highly coveted teammate Jax Forrest checking in at No. 2.
Who knows, maybe the age difference catches up to Bassett once he reaches college and faces similarly physically mature opponents. But the evidence suggests that’s not likely to happen.