Need help from a knowledgeable wrestling person please. A friend of mine's nephew wrestles for Chapman.

He certified at 140 and wrestled 152 for Marysville dual. Now they are telling him he can't wrestle at regionals or state because he wrestled one match outside his certified weight class.

So, is he DONE or not? If so, WHY? Thanks a bunch. The family is really upset about this and is awaiting an answer from someone with knowledge/authority on this topic.

Thanks a bunch.

If he is certified at 140 I dont see why he shouldn't be able to wrestle. If they had to bump him up to wrestle a match I dont see a problem. They do it with JV all the time.

Rules & Cases Directory

Wrestling Rules Book 2006-07
Rule 1: Competition
Section 2: Representation

Article 5... A wrestler who weighs in for one weight class may be shifted to the next highest weight class, provided it is not more than one weight class above that for which the actual weight qualifies. The exact weight of all contestants shall be recorded and submitted to the official scorer.

What did he weigh in at though? If he still weighted in at 140 he may not have broken certification. Weighing in at that weight would break certification, and he would have to recertify. I'm not sure what weight he'd have to recertify at though. Anything other than 140 though and he wouldn't be able to wrestle due to the fact that you have to wrestle half of your matches at the weight you'll wrestle at regionals..

KSHSAA manual states that a wrestler : "After certification, a wrestler may not weigh in more than one weight class or wrestle more than one weight class above their certification weight wighout recertifying at a higher weight" For example: if he certified at 140 he could weigh 145 but could not bump to 152 without breaking certification at 140. Hope that helps.

The simplest answer is to have the schools Athletic Director contact the KSHSAA tomorrow morning for clarification.

There may be factors which we are unaware and we may speculate at length but ultimately the decision will be made by the KSHSAA.

Thank you Richard and Curtis.

So, if he happened to weigh in THAT DAY at 145, then he will still qualify as he just bumped up ONE weight class for that one time event?

Again, he wrestled at 140 all year. Bumped up to 152 for that ONE time event. However, if his weight that day was 145 (or higher) would that mean that for that one time event he was just bumping up ONE class and therefore would be in compliance with article five provided above by Richard?

He was told that if he could get up to 149.5 by regionals, that he could then wrestle in the 160 wt class. This is what i was told happened at the seeding meeting. To me, that sounds really crazy. He'd get tossed around like a rag doll (if he could even GAIN the NEEDED weight) to wrestle up to 160.

Again, the family is very upset and confused and feel like they are getting some mis-information. I suggested they contact Randy Hinderliter or Mark Anderson or Mike Juby BY phone (I provided the phone numbers from off of this website). Good idea? Bad idea? Got any other ideas?

I'm just trying to help this family gain some clarity from an authoritive/trustworthy source on this topic. The kid is a senior. He is a GREAT kid and a hard worker and we'd all hate for him to not be able to wrestle at state at the weight that he wrestled at 99 percent of his senior season at.

Thanks again.

PS:

What is the purpose and intent of this rule? And, i assume it is a new one for this year?

Good point. Can you please provide the number and contact person that the AD should talk with at KSHSAA?

Thanks a bunch Richard.

Mr. Rick Bowden
(785)273-5329
rbowden@kshsaa.org

Thank you Richard. I really appreciate it.

He weighed in at 146 and wrestled 152 that night. Does that make a difference?

No, it does not because 147 is the cut-off so he weighed-in one weight class higher than his certified weight and this does not break certification, he wrestled one weight class higher than he weighed which is also legal.
I actually talked to Mr. Bowden on Monday night about this same situation, I am now missing my 130 pounder, but my varsity 125 is having trouble making weight. I asked if could wrestle 130 as long as he weighed 125 and Rick said "He can weigh in at 132 and not break certification, he will still be certified." You can weigh-in one weight class higher than your certified weight(ex. Cert. @ 125 but weigh-in for Regionals at 132)and nothing is lost. So if he weighed in at 145 and wrestled 152 there is no problem, and he shouldn't have to recertify.
Coach Brown

If you are certified at 140 the most you can wrestle is at the 145 lb division. If your wrestler wrestled in the 152 weight class then he broke certification. The lowest weight class that he could now wrestle in would be the 145 weight class. If your coach let the wrestler break certification then it would be on the coach. That is what i have been told.

I am told Mr. Bowden is the person who would know so I will take that info Coach Brown and see what he says. Thanks!!!

Glad to help, in any way I can!
Coach Brown

Good luck. I hope that things go your way.

This may help clear up this situation: Once a wrestler certifies at a weight in the State of Kansas he can not weigh in or wrestle more than one weight above that weight. My 140 lber broke certification in the Marysville duel. Since he broke certification by wrestling up two weight classes above his certified weight he is ineligible to compete at the lower certified weight.

In my case it was my misunderstanding of the rule to allow my wrestler to move up to fill an open spot left open due to an injury.

He will wrestle in the 160 lb class at regionals.

Jeff Sheets

So I stand corrected on the wrestling 152, but was partially right on the not breaking certification by weighing-in one weight clas higher and not breaking cert, sorry about the misinformation. I am only human, and a little frazzled with Regionals less than 24 hours away and the two snow days on top of that!
Coach Brown

Coach Sheets- I appreciate your frankness in admitting to misunderstanding the rule. I can see how that would be easy to do as it seems quite confusing (IE. You and coach Brown believing differently on it) and this is the first year of it.

Coach Sheets, have you contacted Mr. Bowden directly yourself to see if anything at all can be done for your wrestler other than having to wrestle 160 pounds? For him to have to wrestle 160 (and i have been told that he may NOT even be allowed to do that, IF he cannot GAIN 5 pounds by tomorrow's weigh-in) after wrestling 99.9% of his season at 140 is not only ridiculous, but dangerous (In HS, my brother broke his arm wrestling a dude that was 20 pounds heavier than him at the time).

I mean no disrespect to you Mr. Sheets. Again, mistakes happen and it is a new and confusing rule. But to penalize (the system, not coach Sheets doing the penalizing) a senior wrestler so severely for it is wrong. If you haven’t contacted Mr. Bowden yet, please do so first thing in the morning. Maybe he can do something. Again, its not fair to penalize the wrestler for this, especially since 99.9% of his season he wrestled 140. Whatever the intent of this rule is, it is obvious that the wrestler and his coach were NOT trying to ‘work the system’ to their advantage. Again, if you haven’t done so yet, please contact Mr. Bowden*** first thing in the morning.

Thank you.


***Mr. Rick Bowden
(785)273-5329
rbowden@kshsaa.org

I believe there is a rule that states you have to wrestle half your matches at the weight in which you are planning on wrestling at regionals? That is what we were told by Rick Bowden 2 years ago.



Mel