Originally Posted By: BLT
But isnt there something to be said about asking a 235 pound kid to wrestle a kid that cuts to 285?
Its too much weight!


I would be willing to bet the kid who weighs 235 probably is in better physical shape than the kid who has to cut to make 285, which is already an advantage in itself.

I will also agree a 245lbs could be beneficial, but 15 weight classes is too many. I would be all for getting rid of a middle weight and redistributing the weights to cover the spread but unfortunately as I stated above, the majority of kids will fall in that range thus we need more opportunities there as opposed to the upper end of the spectrum. We need the lower opportunities because everyone who comes into high school usually grows larger as time goes on so more opportunities are needed in the lower weights.

Some numbers for discussion...
# of Wrestlers (Pratt 1st, Norton 2nd)
103- 10 , 11
112- 9 , 15
119- 11 , 12
125- 11 , 13
130- 12 , 12
135- 11 , 15
140- 11 , 16
145- 12 , 15
152- 9 , 14
160- 9 , 16
171- 10 , 14
189- 12 , 16
215- 11 , 14
285- 12 , 10

It seems the numbers show that the weight classes are pretty evenly distributed now, what else is there to gain? Adding another weight class at the top will only take participants away from what already there and lower the numbers there.


Alex R. Ryan
KSHSAA Official #15616
USAWKS Official #707