Former Montana four-time high school wrestling champions Jarrett Degen and Parker Filius are ranked in the top 20 of Wrestling Insider News Magazine NCAA wrestling rankings, according to a release from USA Wrestling.
Degen competes for Iowa State, while Filius attends Purdue.
Degen, who won four straight Class A titles at Belgrade High School from 2013-16, is ranked No. 6 in the 149-pound class. The Iowa State senior finished with a 16-4 record last winter, according to WrestleStat.com, ending the year on a three-match winning streak at the Big 12 Championships.
The season was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving Degen short of an attempted all-American finish for the second straight year.
Degen's Cyclones, who also boast former Billings Senior four-time state champion Charlie Klepps, enter the season as the No. 5-overall program, according to WIN Magazine. Iowa leads the team rankings, with Michigan and Oklahoma State rounding out the top three, respectively.
Former Bozeman High four-time champion Leif Schroeder joined the Iowa Hawkeyes this year, while his former teammate Chance McLane will be a redshirt freshman at Oklahoma State this year.
Filius, who also won four Class A state championships, his at Havre High, sits No. 20 at 141 pounds. He was set to compete in his first NCAA Championships last March before COVID-19 caused massive shutdowns across the country.
Filius was 19-10 during his sophomore season and was scheduled to wrestle in the pigtail match at the NCAA Championships -- a wrestle-in bout that pushed the winner through to the championship bracket, while the loser would fall to the consolation bracket.
One of six Boilermakers ranked in the WIN Magazine polls, Filius and Purdue are No. 15 in the publication's team rankings. Bozeman's Bjorn Schroeder, older brother of Iowa's Leif Schroder, is a redshirt junior on the Boilermakers this season.
Former Sidney wrestling standout Brandon Eggum, who now coaches the Minnesota wrestling program, leads the Golden Gophers into the No. 11 ranking this winter.
To view the complete WIN Magazine NCAA Wrestling rankings, please click here.
