Lightweight wrestlers face a heavy burden

By Sal Interdonato

Times Herald-Record

Published: 2:00 AM - 01/08/13

Oscar Lainez drinks protein shakes.

Lainez tries to eat healthy, but sometimes he cheats and eats pizza and fast food — anything to gain weight.

Still, when Lainez steps on the scales after a tough Middletown wrestling practice, he weighs just 76 pounds.

In the past, Lainez's weight prevented him from competing at the varsity level. Seventh- and eighth-graders must weigh in excess of 91 pounds to compete at 99 pounds.

Now a freshman, Lainez is taking advantage of a state rule passed last season that waives a minimum weight requirement for wrestlers in the 99-pound weight class who are in high school.

Lainez, who is just under 5 feet tall, is holding his own, despite giving up 25 percent of his body weight to some opponents. He's 12-7 with seven pins.

"It's pretty hard when I know the wrestler is heavier than me and I have to lift him up to take him down," said Lainez, who weighed 79 pounds on Friday night against Monticello. "It's a lot easier for them to take me down because they are 20 pounds heavier. I have to be a good defensive wrestler."

New York and Montana (98 pounds) are the only states that have wrestlers compete in a weight class less than 100 pounds. The New York rule originally had a minimum weight for all ages at 99 pounds,

"The argument was why in football, you have a middle linebacker, they don't ask what he weighs in high school," said Section 9 wrestling chairman Jeff Cuilty, who coaches Wallkill. "So there shouldn't be a minimum for kids in high school. The kids not in high school you are trying to protect."

Still, there's a question of safety with lighter high school wrestlers, too.

Valley Central freshman Bryan Roche weighs between 75 and 77 pounds. Coach Jeff Lewis is very selective on the opponents he matches Roche against.

"He's giving up so much weight for him to go out there against a 99-pounder or a kid sucking down too much" from 106, Lewis said. "You can't just throw them out there against kids. You want them to be able to compete. You have to use your head as a coach."

Middletown coach Jason Lichtenstein was a little apprehensive with Lainez at first. Lainez wrestled in the 90-pound class in the Delaware Valley (Pa.) spring league. He handled the weight, but it was the offseason.

"You get nervous because the weight is so much," Lichtenstein said.

Mind over mass

Lainez uses technique to overcome his weight limitations. He's become a student of the sport, breaking down film with coaches and finding out what offensive moves can be effective.

Outmuscling his opponents, like he did on the modified team the last two seasons, isn't likely. So Lainez has excelled at using leverage.

"He pinned a kid earlier this year that was beating him pretty bad and he just locked up the cradle like we showed him," Lichtenstein said. "All of a sudden, it clicked and he hit the perfect move, and size or not he was able to get the pin."

Lainez is not the only freshman benefitting from the rule change. Pine Bush's Anthony Stramiello placed sixth in his first varsity tournament over the holiday break. Stramiello wrestles behind junior Chris Cuccolo, one of the section's top 99-pounders.

"I was 80 pounds in eighth grade and I wasn't allowed to wrestle," said Stramiello, who weighs around 90 pounds. "Wrestling anyone heavier is a little bit of a challenge. A 10-pound difference for a lightweight is a lot."

It's all mental for Lainez. Before matches, he pictures himself scoring the first takedown and putting his opponent to his back. Lainez has proved he can stay with just about anyone on the mat. Lichtenstein said he plans on using Lainez at 99 pounds for the rest of his dual matches.

"At this point, he's earned it. He's going to have to wrestle Vespa at the sections," Lichtenstein said, referring to Monroe-Woodbury's top 99-pounder, Vinny Vespa. "I'm not going to hold him out. ... He'll wrestle everyone in our duals. He's excited about it. I think he would be mad at me if I did that. That's why he's successful. He doesn't care. He wants to wrestle."

Lainez's eyes light up when he talks wrestling.

"This has given me a great chance to wrestle varsity and become a better person and wrestler," Lainez said.

sinterdonato@th-record.com;

Twitter: salinterdonato

Great example of why the powers that be should not be raising weight classes so that the Lil guy is pushed out of competition.

It is amazing how much tougher 106 is than 103 was. Not necessarily at the very top, but the depth now is where a weight class should be. Not nearly as many opens at 106. I think moving this up was a very good move. The kids in the article seem to be doing fine.

Yes, one more example of why "the powers that be" should have left the weights alone. Another different type of example and perhaps even better example of why the weights should have been left alone is manifested via the brackets at Derby. All of the "middle weight" brackets were "full". All the heavier brackets were not. The littler brackets although not full still had more than the heavier brackets. Removing a middle weight to add a bigger weight was totally illogical and flat out asinine.

I am a little biased on this argument having wrestled 103 for four years, but wrestling is the only sport where a light weight kid has the chance to compete against kids the same weight instead of 50,100,200 pounds heavier. I have also as a coach seen where great wrestlers were not big enough to get a spot on the team untill their Jr. year. A good example of this is a kid by the name of Donny Altman the kid was a little BA but was just not big enough untill his Jr. year. Derby has a very good freshman in Tanner Smith that will, unless he hits a major growth spurt, probably not be in the varsity line up until his Jr. year. I don't know the numbers but I am sure there are more talented light weights missing opportunities then there are talented upper weights, most of the big guys focus on fball and most fball coaches don't want their players wrestling. Peopla are always on here talking about growing our sport and keeping kids in the sport but they really want to push the little guy out to make room for the heavies which will not fill the bleachers. They need to bring back 98lbs. The argument of look at the brackets that are not full is not a good argument there are always brackets that are not full from top to bottom.

This is going to be a huge issue next year I think.
Boo Dryden,Mason Turner,Cody Phippen-entered tulsa at 75
Dylan Gowin, Gunner Rairden, Tanner Hitchcock, Tate Steele(not sure about his grade) but the list can keep going on and on! Look at these kids accomplishments and imagine what a pity it will be for them to either, A. set on bench, B. Give up a ton of weight and not be able to truly show there talent. C. Not wrestle highschool at all next year and go to the Tulsa tourneys, USJOC, Liberty, Cotton Bowl, Colorado Big ones and so on,(Which because of our DUMB A-- highschool rules here in Kansas would prolly be there best choice) Im going to venture out there and say there that the talent pool at the lower weights is bigger than that of the uppers. Not to downgrade them big dudes but MOST (not all) of the time the smaller guys move alot more and make for more exciting wrestling. Another problem that needs to be considered is that wrestlers cut weight, thats just how it is. So 106 you could be wrestling a 115 pound kid quite often, or bigger after Christmas I think its actually 108lbs. So 103 to 106 doesnt seem like a lot but 103 to 108 is a bit different. Anyhow put another middle weight class in and add a Lower class. You might also get some kids that normally wouldnt do any sports because of being to small! Something needs to change on the weights and state rules so our kids dont have to miss out on them national tourneys!!

Moving it down a couple pounds is fine, but adding another weight isn't the answer. To many weight classes already and HS is starting to get a little watered down as it is IMO.

This is not an accurate statement.
103 was already BA. It did not have to be changed to 106 to be tougher.
106 is not " much tougher" as you state if even any tougher at all. Although I do see that you did add the disclaimer "not necessarily at the very top".
Of course it would seem as though 106 would give it more depth, but more likely it is the same and it is just that the kids just didn't have to work as hard to "make weight" at 106 so they are probably not as tough and hungry to reap the rewards of their effort and sacrifice.

Most of those little dudes whether 103 or 106 are total BA’s though. They are very athletic, and well conditioned, and highly skilled, and perhaps even more disciplined. And in some cases, the best are the best pound for pound as Tommyboy once stated.

Let me submit for approval the following list which I submitted last year when this came up:
Bo Pursel
Austin Hood
Aaron Seybold
Dylan Schumacher
Konnor Kriss
Colby Watters
Javier Vieyra
Lincoln Lemon
Zach Dremel
Tommy Williams
Anthony Calderon
Jason Perez
Hunter Stalford
Alex Wolfe
Ty Kolterman
Clay Mulligan
Alex Garcia
Austin Avelar
Andrew Morgan

What does this list represent?
Yes it represents wrestlers graduating last year. But for the purpose of this discussion, it represents wrestlers who wrestled at 103 at state as freshmen. Every one of them would have been BA no matter what weight they were at or what grade they were in. All of them certainly could have made the team at whatever weight they weighed when they were freshmen. They were tough enough, skilled enough, good enough. They just happened to be small freshmen.
Pretty BA list huh. Every one of them went on to multiple medal careers and all were either a champion or a runner-up and most at a heavier weight, many at the traditionally toughest middle weight.

I challenge anyone to come up with a better list representing a collection of kids from the same weight in the same year that were the same age that went on to be champs or runnerups.

I guess what I am trying to say is when you say 106 is much tougher, you are saying these guys didn't have it as tough and they sure as hell did. Maybe even tougher. There is a whole butt load of quality kids that I didn't even mention that were at 103 that year as well that were freshman, and the list doesn't include all the studs that were not freshman at 103 that year.

So 19 out of 64 wrestlers at state were very good wrestlers at 103. Fair enough, does somebody want to make a list of wrestlers who wouldn't have wrestled this year or last year at 103, but are wrestling 106?

Terrill?
Cokeley?
Henes?
Howell?
DeShazer?

I"m just guessing on weights, but there has been multiple extra guys spending extra year(s) at the lowest weight, making it deeper and tougher than it would have been at 103.

So you obviously didn't read my post clearly Scooter. It is not just 19 out of 64 that were "very good". Those 19 mentioned are just the ones who were freshmen that year. That does not include all the upper classmen from that year like Windham, Witten, Dryden, Kmiec, Goepfert, Skillman, Dean, Hodges, Cole, Torres, Pfannenstiel, Nemer, Lies, etc. And I didn't just say those 19 were "very good", they were very very good, really good, they were good enough to be a state champion or runner-up in their career. There were a lot of "very good" wrestlers at that weight that year that were not mentioned because the were just medalists and not 1st or 2nd.

Also, I hear what you are saying but still don't agree. Once again, most of those guys that are at 106 would have gone to 103 but just didn't have to. Those guys didn't have to cut as much weight and work as hard to make weight so it is not tougher by that measuring stick for sure.

Again, your statement was "it is amazing how much tougher 106 is than 103 was" and that is flat out wrong. Now, if you would have said something along the lines of, "you would expect that 106 would usally be deeper and perhaps tougher because more kids could make the weight and more kids could stay at the weight longer, etc.", than I could have accepted that. But you made a very "paint your self in a corner, draw a line in the sand, blanket type statement" that is very inaccurate. Again, by saying that, you are saying the kids I listed didn't have it as tough and they did. I am sure their coaches and especially their parents would disagree with you and resent that statement. Guys like badbo, AAA, shudog, X, etc. know what it was like and the level that those guys competed at and the weekly battles. They had it just as tough if not tougher. They beat on each other and beat each other up, and on top of that, they had to work harder to make 103 which is tougher and made them tougher. I could easily say that "106 is not as tough because the kids are not as tough because they didn't have to work as hard to make the weight". They didn't have to be as disciplined. They didn't have to be as dedicated. They didn't have to make as many sacrifices. They didn't have as much invested. They wouldn't have been as hungry for the payout, etc. etc. etc. I agree that there are x number of kids that spent an extra year at the weight which may have made it deeper, but not necessarily tougher. But I also claim that list is much smaller than you think.

I am not saying the list provided was the best representation possible of the point I was trying make. I just challenged anyone to submit one as good or better because I would be interested to see it. A group of kids at the same weight in the same year that were the same age that were either a champ or runner-up. If there is a better list provided, than I will bow down to it because it would be sick awesome. But that is a separate issue.

You are calling for a different list than I asked for. One that lists kids that would not have gone to the smallest weight if it had been 103 instead of 106. Fair enough, I would like to see it. It will be small I state because again, the majority of those guys that go to 106 would have gone to 103 if that was their option, they just would have had to work harder to make the weight. They would have been inherently tougher and would have become even tougher because of that and that made the weight tougher.

We could spin it either way I guess Scooter but for now, how about you provide the list since you are the slanderer in this case. First, verify that Terrill, Cokeley, Henes, Howell and DeShazer would not have gone to 103, and then find some others to add to it, because right now, your list is a lot shorter than mine.

But have a great day!

Damn X I thought you lost a step in your old age, but I think Scooter has got you hotter than a $2 pistol on this subject!

Kevin Seybold

"Also, I hear what you are saying but still don't agree. Once again, most of those guys that are at 106 would have gone to 103 but just didn't have to. Those guys didn't have to cut as much weight and work as hard to make weight so it is not tougher by that measuring stick for sure."


I have a son at 106 X, so please don't get on here saying that 106 pounders don't have to cut as much weight and work hard! You don't know how hard they work and how much weight they have to cut!! I think I know how hard my son works on technique and weight management!

Coach Prieto, I think you misunderstood what X was trying to say, I think he was trying to say that the weight being 106 would not make a difference to the list that he provided they would have went 103 if that was the weight. I don't think he was dogging any kid for being 106 he was just saying that the kid that is 106 would just have to work harder to make 103. Another thing, back in the early 90's we didn't get to gain weight after winter break we still had to make scratch all year except continous days of competition and I will check my state brackets tonight from my Jr. and Sr. year to see how many upperclassman were in the 103 bracket because the argument of kids staying down that low because the weight went up 5lbs(with after cert gain) is BS we still had upper classman in the brackets at state.

For every pound that is added to the lightest weight class, it makes that smallest class more competitve, and the 113lb class that much less competitive. One pound more could intice 50 kids across the state to drop down from 113. So think how many more are in this class than was there in the 90's. Heck we have combined the 98lb. and the old 105lb class. Also, Doesnt make them tougher because kids are losing more weight, just makes them weaker.

This is one of the rare times I will say that I totally agree with you X. There are way more light and middle weight wrestlers sitting on the bench than upper weights. Oh well, maybe in a few years the powers that be will realize how big of a mistake the weight class changes were.

Mr. XG............C

Since you started the list thing, let me throw a challenge back to you. I challenge you, or anyone else, to make a list of last year's seniors who didn't see the mat at state their freshman year. Not all of the seniors, just the ones whose only sin was that they weighed over 145 lbs. Not only because they weighed over 145 but they weighed over 145 - therefore they either didn't make varsity because a upper classman beat them out, or if they were lucky enough to find a varsity spot, they had the crap beat out of them by a real man at the regional tournament.

I would contend there are a heck of a lot more "studs" left without opportunity to wrestle on a varsity team at any weight above 145 lbs than kids that think "106 is just too big".

Give me a list of legit athletes that wrestle 4 years under 113 lbs, no make that 120 without finding the medal stand once, and I'll give you a list 10 times as long of real studs over 145 going home without.

p.s. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a little guy hater. Some of my favorite wrestlers are little guys. Just know the competition is lets say....."not as deep".

You guys act like there is a competition between the light weights and the heavy weights. I don't understand...the point of wrestling is you compete against kids your size. We can add a lower weight class without worrying about 145 lbs'er...We need to recognize wrestling is the only sport that the light kids can compete in on an equal footing. Wrestling needs to embrace them and increase opportunities. It can be done without hurting the upper weights.

The real problem is we want everything to be "FAIR". We have gone from 12 weights when I was in High School (1988-1991) to 14 weights now. The reasoning for adding the upper weights (where the majority of wrestler do not compete) was that it was too big of a jump from 185 to HWT. What is the jump in College? 190 to HWT. So these guys wrestling 195 and 220 are going to have to pull to 190 or wrestle HWT in College. They need to get rid of those 3 weight classes and just make the class HWT.

103 and 106 I could care either way. They are within 3 lbs, make it 103 and give the 2 lbs of growth allowance in January. Problem solved.

103, 112, 119, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 171, 190, HWT. BAM!
Problem solved.

Littler guys get to wrestle. Still going to have those that are too small to wrestle but that is just how it goes. Life is not always FAIR. There are alot of kids that have been mentioned that will be too small to wrestle and are VERY GOOD. The weight has been 103 since the day they were born.

Bigger guys get to wrestle. They may have to pull a little more weight to get to 190. Or they may have to bulk up, toughen up and wrestle HWT. There are ALOT more heavier men in college and their is no weight in between. AGAIN, Life is not FAIR.

This would Thicken up the soup a little instead of watering it down.

Since I am up on my Soapbox let me add one more. Lets go back to 4 placers at State instead of watering it down with 6. But that is another discussion for another Topic.

EDIT: Yes Cokeley, I agree we should go to 1 class to instead of the Watered Down 4 that we have now. Lets get the weights and places down before we go attacking classes. It would only be "FAIR"

Heck if they do redo the wt classes AGAIN..go 13 wts..that way in case of a tie you wont need the 16 tie breaker steps to determine the winner of the duel. Odd numbers are easier to break than even. JMO

FYI. . . Several years ago, they added 7 pounds to every college weight. The 190 pound class you speak of is now 197.