Jordyn Raney (Union County, Ky.) named WIN’s Men’s Junior Schalles Award recipient

Photo: Jordyn Raney (top) w0n an Ironman title in December and earned three pins en route to the title. Photo by Robert Preston.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MEN’S JUNIOR SCHALLES AWARD RECIPIENT JORDYN RANEY. 

Editor’s Note: This article appeared in WIN’s Annual Awards Issue, which published May 5, 2026.

By Tristan Warner

Jordyn Raney and twin brother, Jayden, have been each other’s biggest assets in the sport of wrestling.

After getting involved at a young age at the urging of their father, Scott, to have them learn self-defense, the brothers started getting “pretty decent” according to Jordyn, and their careers have only taken off from there.

Jordyn, who is heading to Oklahoma State next year alongside his twin, wrapped up his decorated interscholastic career with a 203-4 career record with 187 pins (92.12% pin rate) and five high school state titles in the Bluegrass State while representing Union County High under the direction of co-head coaches Jarvis Elam and Brooks Black.

Jordyn has been named the recipient of WIN Magazine’s 2026 Junior Schalles Award as the nation’s top high school pinner. The award is named after Wade Schalles, who set the college pin record at Clarion (Pa.) State where he won two NCAA championships (1972-73). During his career, Schalles defeated 153 of 159 opponents and pinned 109.

Schalles, who was named a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1991, said, “Jordyn Raney wrestles with the kind of edge you only get from a lifetime of battling someone just as good as you are every single day. He is relentless, never satisfied with control, always hunting the finish. Once you’re close to your back, he doesn’t let up. Ask Jax Forest and Bo Bassett, both of whom he pinned. This is what happens when you have great coaching and a brother who’s as hungry to pin you.”

Black echoed the legendary Schalles, saying, “I am so excited for him, especially because we don’t get any love down here in Kentucky. He has pinned Jax Forrest (Super 32 in 2022), and he has pinned Bo Bassett (Fargo in 2022). He pinned three guys at Ironman. He can pin anyone in the world. Nobody is more deserving.”

Black, who took no credit for the twins’ pinning ways and emphasized their father Scott’s message to his boys has always been to get off the mat by securing a pin, is excited to see what the future has in store for Jayden and Jordyn.

“The thing with the twins is they have trained out of our high school in Kentucky with 550 kids … that is it. They don’t have a training situation like a Bishop McCort or some powerhouse program. At the end of the day, they’ve just had each other. In a room with David (Taylor), and (Daton) Fix and (Jimmy) Kennedy, I can’t wait to see what they can do.”

“I try to pin everyone I wrestle,” Jordyn said. “Every tournament we go to, we (him and Jayden) try to see who can get the most pins and who can get them faster. It is always a competition, and we always push each other.

“Our dad says we have already spent so much time training on the mat all week, so why spend extra unnecessary time on the mat during the weekends?”

“And why score one less point in a dual or tournament when you can get a pin? Get as many team points as you can,” Jordyn said.