Fewer weights on a team is one discussion. Filling weights at quailifying tournaments is another discussion. Fewer high school classifications is another. Maybe Kansas should rethink the classifications. It doesn't eliminate any high school from having wrestling - it just regroups them into 3, 2 or 1 class. If we had one class we could have 16 regionals 8 sectionals and only the top 2 come out of each sectional with wrestle back to true second at sectional and state. Maybe in its current form just have 5A and 6A state tournaments 32 man bracket. These teams are wrestling in 24 - 32 team tournaments a couple of times a year anyway. Why do smaller towns have 7 and 9 man football? It doesn't hurt to have all the weight class opportunities. In one city and/or school area they maybe able to fill all the spots and another may not - so what. You could have a city that only fills 6 or 8 spots with varisty caliber guys but they could still win state in its current form of scoring. A very good team of 6 most likely would not win many duals.
I am still in favor of keeping the 103 where it is.

I personally liked Option A, with a little of Option B thrown in, making it as follows:
110, 119, 125, 131, 136, 141, 146, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, 285

What do you think? I know that the 110 class wouldn't help the lighter weights, but I think it would get more upper classmen to try to make the weight. 103 is primarily Fr/So only. Plus, a little larger weight class might get college coaches more interested in scholarships to these "lighter" guys (more so than now, anyways).

We cant let this happen what do we tell the kid that has wrestled for almost 10 years when you get to high school your not going to able to wrestle because your to small its only for the big kids. we need to grow the sport. get in to the hallways these kids are out there.

Bad call is what I think. Is there a problem filling a 103 bracket at regionals? Do you really wnat your stud light weights taking a year off til they get to 110? Don't think that would help college recruiting. Appears to be an ill thought post. There are plenty of kids that are in 8th grade this year that are worried about getting to 103 by next year. This post seems to be worried only about the upperclassmen. Remember Freshmen & Sophmores do become Juniors & Seniors.

Andale has two tough kids that will have to hoof it to get to 103 by next year. Goddard has a stud freshman this year that is still struggling to get to 90 lbs. I would venture to guess that lots of kids programs have an eight grader that will struggle to get to 103 by the time he is a freshman. And I am just talking about getting to 103, not getting to 110 or more that kids cut from to get to be a big 103. We have to keep the 103 class.

It's always hard when they change weight classes, but it ends up being part of the natural process of things. Forty years ago, the highest weight class before heavyweight (which was unlimited at that point) was 165. There was even a year in there when they experimented with a 12-class system that went 98, 107, 115, 123, 130, 137, 145, 155, 165, 175, 185 and HWT. A year later we went to the 98, 105, 112, 119, 126, 132, 138, 145, 155, 167, 185 and HWT system that we had until 1988.

We have had the same classes now for going on 25 years. And there are fewer and fewer 103-pounders, there is no question about that. And, at the same time, we are getting more and more big kids. I remember when we went from 98 to 103 as the low weight, there was so much outcry about what it meant for smaller kids; yet we survived. The same is true here. Maybe a good compromise would be start at 107 or 108 and work up from there.

Change is inevitable; and in all honesty, it's probably long past time to do it. But it can be done fairly for everyone and we'll just all learn to adapt to the change.

Same classes for 25 years?? In 1995 they added 215! When they first added 215, they shifted the weights around to keep it at 13 weights and then the next year they went back to tho 1994 weights with the addition of 215 to make 14 weights.

...

In our kids club room in Lawrence, we have a group JR high kids who work hard every day with the goal of not just being varsity 103 lbers, but strong varsity 103 lbers! It's the body size they were given and they are doing their best with what they got. They're not busting their butt just to "fill a slot." The "reality" is these kids care about the sport of wrestling because their is opportunity in it for them at their size.

I say keept 103! 107 and 108 are esentially 109/110!

On a side note, I think there is quite a lot of room between 215 and 285 though. The new proposals seem to hurt the smaller kids while not helping the larger kids.

Well said. I don't think moving up to 107 will hurt the sport at all. And, I am all for little guys and I don't discriminate against any grade being a varsity wrestler. If a 9th or 10th grader makes the team, that's awesome. There may be some kids under weight at a particular school, we have one, but he is the only one for us and we can't find a 112 lber and we only have one wrestler at each of the rest of the small half of the weights. The infamous small "kids in the hallways" may exist, but they have no desire to wrestle whatsoever no matter how enthusiastic WE are about the sport.
I was in a 6A school last year and the story was the same. Our kids are getting bigger and I don't just mean on the top side. The weight classes from 145-171 are the most crowded year in and year out from my perspective and the gaps in weights between 171-215 are too large and we could work to diminish that to help out the bigger guys too and give more guys an opportunity at the upper weights.

Alex, I know this this the 5th time this week you had bacon, chocolate cake & cheetos for breakfast. Do you want to wrestle or not. How bad do you want it? You got to make weight boy! Suck it up!

That is funny, but that happens on the upper end of the weights as well. If you have a stud at 171 your closest option up is 189 and 215 from there. The argument is on both ends of the weight scale.

The difference Tate, is we wouldn't have the option of dropping down.

I see what you are saying, but I still don't see that many 103 lbers at 1 school anymore, but I do see a lot of congestion in the middle upper weights in myriad schools. I think fighting for the little guy is valid and it should continue to some extent, but 107 lb kids and 115 lb kids and 120 lb kids are still represented and those are small weight classes as well. Most successful 103 lbers, with a few anomalous exceptions have to cut a little to get to 103 anyway. I guess I just will have to agree to disagree

RJ:

Well, I was referring to the weights other than the addition of 215, and I wasn't in Kansas in 1994, so I was unaware of the shifting of weights. My point is that other than that it has been the same system for a long time.

As for the weight differences, a couple of points. I had a three-time State qualifier at 103 that never weighed more than 100 pounds until his senior year. And, just for fun, Andrew Long, who is now the starting 125-pounder at Iowa State was a state placewinner up there in 2005 as a freshman. He weighed all of 85 pounds. There will always be kids who are "too small." The thing is that while that might put them on JV as freshmen and might mean they get their heads handed to them a few times, they'll get bigger.

Our Varsity 103lb kid weighed 97 and ate constantly....wishing to have to cut a little to get to 103! He was a Freshman that has wrestled for the past 10yrs or longer! He has placed at Tulsa, USJOC, Liberty and Brute among others. Was one match away from qualifing for State at our 4a Regionals...wrestled hard and deserved a spot on the team! It would have been a shame for Hunter Price of Holton not to have been able to wrestle his Freshmen year! To talk of not having the 103lb spot is wrong! Add a weight class after 215 and before HWT...don't take away from the sport! We also filled our 112 and 119 classes with out hassle or worry! Holton wrestling was fortunate to have over 30kids out this year! Let's keep the room full from 103 to hwt!

Kim Lovvorn
Holton Wreslting Mom

Good for him! Sounds like he would have done okay if the weight class was 107 as well. We have 30 kids too, but not at the lighter weights. Our 103 lber ate all the time too, but so did our 215 and 285 lb wrestler. I guess I just don't see the argument of keeping 103 and not moving it up when we can lower the gaps between the higher weights and keep more kids involved. The kids that we lose from the room are those that are the highly competitive mid upper weights. I want to keep the room full too, we just have a different way of getting to the same goal.

If it really comes down to it, take a survey of all the weights of the male athletes in High School right now (Fr. So. Jr. & Sr.) and graph the data showing weight ranges from:

90-100
101-110
111-120
121-130
131-140
141-150
151-160
161-170
171-180
181-190
191-200
201-210
211-220
221-230
231-240
241-250
251-260
261-270
271-280
281-290
291-300

I say athletes because they are what we are researching not the band members, drama club, science club, people, we are looking at the athletes. You will find a bell shaped curve that should land in the center somewhere around 145-160 lbs, as that is how the world works, you will always find more kids at the middle weights than the upper & lower weights because most kids are in the middle of the bell curve.

The reason for more lower weights is kids grow into bigger weights not shrink into the lower weights, so why not have more steps to get to the top than giant leaps to get to steps at the upper end. There needs to be more weights in the middle with more lower weights as kids are growing coming from sub 103 and growing upwards.

A 10lbs or 15lbs difference to a HWT is nothing, I mean honestly they can lose 6-8lbs a practice if they push hard enough for a little guy 3lbs is a HUGE practice so a 7lbs or 8lbs weight differential is needed or less even, thus the smaller weight differentials at the lower end, and more weight classes as they are needed.

On the note of adding more upper weights will add more kids to the wrestling room, you guys are the same ones saying we don't need the lower weights because we don't have the kids to fill them, it's kinda the same philosophy, just because we have room for them doesn't mean they will always get filled. Why not provide opportunity to kids who have no other opportunities instead of catering to only a handful of athletes?

As it has been said already most 103lbs kids are eating to make weight, why punish them even more by adding another 3-4lbs to the weight class? Also how many Heavyweights cut weight? How many teams are stacked 2-3 deep at HWT? Most teams have multiple 103's due to the nature of the Freshman classes and wrestlers maturing as they get older.

Maybe I'm way off, and go ahead and shoot holes in this, it's just my own opinion.

Having a son who wrestled 103 for two years in high school, I would be against getting rid of the 103 class. As a freshman he was a light 103, and then after growing chose to sacrifice and wrestle 103 as a sophomore even though he could have earned a spot at 112 or 119 on his team. That year alone there were two seniors at 103 in the Blue Valley region, and one of those placed 2nd in the state.

There are skilled wrestlers in all the classes, but if you take a look at any kids tournamement these days you will find some of the deepest and most technically skilled kids brackets at your lower weights under 100 pounds. Those are the kids who wrestle year round because of their lack of size to compete in other sports. Those are the kids who will ultimately wrestle 103 in high school. At BVW, we have had trouble filling the heavier weights, not the lower ones.

On a side note, I was one of the 103lbs kids in High School, I weighed 96lbs soaking wet as a freshman then cut to 103 as a sophomore then 130 the next 2 years, so I do have a fondness for the lower weights.

Plus if we're all about fan base, who would you rather watch, 2 103lbs kids wrestling or 2 HWT's?

103's everyday of the week and twice on Sunday.