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Should College Wrestling have 1 more weight class?

Abro1975

Hall of Famer
Nov 21, 2009
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Going straight from 197 lbs to Heavyweight seems like a giant leap. In HS their is a 220 pound weight class. HS also has 14 weight classes. I think 14 weight classes in College would be economically tough , but I think adding 1 more weight class, say at around 220 would be great. There must be many great wrestlers in that 220-240 range that are too heavy to make 197 , yet too small to compete with the elite Heavys.

Has College Wrestling been 10 weight classes for a long time? I haven't been following College Wrestling nearly as long as NJ HS wrestling (since the late 60s)

Hope the weather cooperates for this weekends matches against Navy and Ohio St.

PS- I can just imagine some of the long time followers of College Wrestling shaking their heads in disbelief at this post, lol.
This post was edited on 1/29 7:57 AM by Abro1975
 
more scholarships or more weight classes would be great for big time programs and it would increase the number of opporuntities for the student athletes but it would probably be a burden for the 2nd half of D1 teams. i'm not an expert on the inner workings of the NCAA and the programs but i think it's going to be a tough sell.

i agree in theory though. today's college athletes are bigger. if not another weight class i would recommend stretching the space between the weights and adding 3% or so to each weight. (size inflation!) something like:

125
136
144
152
160
170
180
190
210
285

unfortunately, changing the weights without adding in number will reduce the number of opportunities for some kids. in this case, adding opportunities for upper weights means reducing them for lower weights. i think some compromise is warranted though. international weights have a 185, 214 and HWT class.
 
I always thought that the new weight classes introduced in 1998, after 3 deaths at the start of the 1997 season, were a move in the wrong direction because they lowered most weight classes. Sure they eliminated 118, but they reduced 126, 134, 142, 150, 158 by 1 lb, 167 by 2 lbs, 177 by 3 lbs & 190 by 6 lbs. Illogical & adding 197 didn't make things better, as the 3 deaths were at 150 & 190. Eliminating 118 was fine, but they should've kept 126, 134, 142, 150, 158, 167, 177 & 190 & then added 205, 207 or 210.
Posted from Rivals Mobile
 
Originally posted by Leonard23:
I always thought that the new weight classes introduced in 1998, after 3 deaths at the start of the 1997 season, were a move in the wrong direction because they lowered most weight classes. Sure they eliminated 118, but they reduced 126, 134, 142, 150, 158 by 1 lb, 167 by 2 lbs, 177 by 3 lbs & 190 by 6 lbs. Illogical & adding 197 didn't make things better, as the 3 deaths were at 150 & 190. Eliminating 118 was fine, but they should've kept 126, 134, 142, 150, 158, 167, 177 & 190 & then added 205, 207 or 210.




Posted from Rivals Mobile
You are looking at it backwards. They didn't get rid of 118, reduce a bunch of weights, and add 197. They added 7 lbs to every weight class.

In 1998, they changed the weigh-in rules from day before (which was dangerous, and led to the deaths) to 1 or 2 hours before, depending on the event. They also prohibited a bunch of weight loss techniques, and started limiting body fat reduction and hydration. When they did that, every wrestler got a 7 lb allowance because they couldn't cut weight and rehydrate the way they did in the past. All of the kids already in school could never make their weight with the new rules. They weren't really "new" weight classes...you could never do that, because of all the kids already at schools and on teams at various weights.







This post was edited on 1/29 11:20 AM by Ole Cabbagehead
 
Originally posted by Ole Cabbagehead:
Originally posted by Leonard23:
I always thought that the new weight classes introduced in 1998, after 3 deaths at the start of the 1997 season, were a move in the wrong direction because they lowered most weight classes. Sure they eliminated 118, but they reduced 126, 134, 142, 150, 158 by 1 lb, 167 by 2 lbs, 177 by 3 lbs & 190 by 6 lbs. Illogical & adding 197 didn't make things better, as the 3 deaths were at 150 & 190. Eliminating 118 was fine, but they should've kept 126, 134, 142, 150, 158, 167, 177 & 190 & then added 205, 207 or 210.


Posted from Rivals Mobile
You are looking at it backwards. They didn't get rid of 118, reduce a bunch of weights, and add 197. They added 7 lbs to every weight class.

This was done when they changed the weigh-in rules from day before (which was dangerous, and led to the deaths) to day of. When they did that, every wrestler got a 7 lb allowance. They weren't really "new" weight classes...you could never do that, because all of the kids already at schools and on teams at various weights.
This post was edited on 1/29 9:10 AM by Ole Cabbagehead
I'm not looking at it backwards. The spin that they added 7 lbs is comical. They eliminated the lowest weight class, reduced 8 existing weight classes & added 197. That's reality. 7 lbs allowance is not, despite their public statements. Also, the day before weigh-in rules weren't as dangerous as you think. We got a 3 lbs allowance, like in HS you weighed in in the morning & then later at the match, but instead you weighed in the night before & next day. The dangers were/are mixing dehydration with rubber suits, saunas & creatine. They used to bring in saunas to nationals.

This post was edited on 1/29 11:22 AM by Leonard23
 
Originally posted by Leonard23:


Originally posted by Ole Cabbagehead:

Originally posted by Leonard23:
I always thought that the new weight classes introduced in 1998, after 3 deaths at the start of the 1997 season, were a move in the wrong direction because they lowered most weight classes. Sure they eliminated 118, but they reduced 126, 134, 142, 150, 158 by 1 lb, 167 by 2 lbs, 177 by 3 lbs & 190 by 6 lbs. Illogical & adding 197 didn't make things better, as the 3 deaths were at 150 & 190. Eliminating 118 was fine, but they should've kept 126, 134, 142, 150, 158, 167, 177 & 190 & then added 205, 207 or 210.



Posted from Rivals Mobile
You are looking at it backwards. They didn't get rid of 118, reduce a bunch of weights, and add 197. They added 7 lbs to every weight class.

This was done when they changed the weigh-in rules from day before (which was dangerous, and led to the deaths) to day of. When they did that, every wrestler got a 7 lb allowance. They weren't really "new" weight classes...you could never do that, because all of the kids already at schools and on teams at various weights.

This post was edited on 1/29 9:10 AM by Ole Cabbagehead
I'm not looking at it backwards. The spin that they added 7 lbs is comical. They eliminated the lowest weight class, reduced 8 existing weight classes & added 197. That's reality. 7 lbs allowance is not, despite their public statements.
Spin? It's pretty clear...they added 7 lbs to every single weight class, to account for the weigh-in changes which limited how much weight you could cut. If they didn't add the allowance the kids already wrestling couldn't make their weights.

Why would getting rid of 118, subtracting a random number from the middle weight classes, and adding a new weight class fix anything? The problem was all the kids cutting too much weight, not the 118 kid cutting too much weight. Why would you set lower weight limits in response to excessive weight cutting??
 
Originally posted by Ole Cabbagehead:
Originally posted by Leonard23:


Originally posted by Ole Cabbagehead:

Originally posted by Leonard23:
I always thought that the new weight classes introduced in 1998, after 3 deaths at the start of the 1997 season, were a move in the wrong direction because they lowered most weight classes. Sure they eliminated 118, but they reduced 126, 134, 142, 150, 158 by 1 lb, 167 by 2 lbs, 177 by 3 lbs & 190 by 6 lbs. Illogical & adding 197 didn't make things better, as the 3 deaths were at 150 & 190. Eliminating 118 was fine, but they should've kept 126, 134, 142, 150, 158, 167, 177 & 190 & then added 205, 207 or 210.



Posted from Rivals Mobile
You are looking at it backwards. They didn't get rid of 118, reduce a bunch of weights, and add 197. They added 7 lbs to every weight class.

This was done when they changed the weigh-in rules from day before (which was dangerous, and led to the deaths) to day of. When they did that, every wrestler got a 7 lb allowance. They weren't really "new" weight classes...you could never do that, because all of the kids already at schools and on teams at various weights.

This post was edited on 1/29 9:10 AM by Ole Cabbagehead
I'm not looking at it backwards. The spin that they added 7 lbs is comical. They eliminated the lowest weight class, reduced 8 existing weight classes & added 197. That's reality. 7 lbs allowance is not, despite their public statements.
Spin? It's pretty clear...they added 7 lbs to every single weight class, to account for the weigh-in changes which limited how much weight you could cut. If they didn't add the allowance the kids already wrestling couldn't make their weights.

Why would getting rid of 118, subtracting a random number from the middle weight classes, and adding a new weight class fix anything? The problem was all the kids cutting too much weight, not the 118 kid cutting too much weight. Why would you set lower weight limits in response to excessive weight cutting??
Again, the reality is that those changes eliminated 118 & decrease 8 weight classes.
 
Although technically they moved the weight classes up 7 lbs in reality many kids looked at it as the lower class was now that much closer to their existing weight.

I think adding an upper weight would be great for competition but the economics of it could kill the sport at a lot of schools. My theory is that segmenting the lower 200's would result in better and more technical matches between guys with more similar builds and strength.
 
I would like to see 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 167, 180, 195, 215, unlimited
I am surprised their has not been a class action lawsuit by larger athletes. why should there be a weight limit? people were not getting hurt by tab thacker. only good reason is to stay close to olympic max of 125kg/275lbs.
going 197 then 285 is a huge jump when upper five weights can be widened..
 
if there was an unlimited weight class you might see a class action lawsuit by wrestlers who weigh just over the 2nd highest weight class.

you have to compromise somewhere. plus there is always sumo!
 
Originally posted by RUfaninMIA:
Although technically they moved the weight classes up 7 lbs in reality many kids looked at it as the lower class was now that much closer to their existing weight.
Exactly my point. Only former 118s got the 7 lb allowance & now they had to beat the 126 that dropped to 125. Everyone just dropped the extra lb or 2 or 3.
 
Every wrestler who made the podium in the 1998 and 1999 NCAA's, made the podium in a higher weight class in 1999 (18 wrestlers went up the 7lbs., 5 wrestlers moved up 7lbs. plus one weight class)

Every wrestler who made the podium in both the 1998 and 1999 EIWA tournaments made the podium at a higher weight class in 1999 (22 wrestlers went up the 7 lbs., 4 wrestlers moved up 7 lbs. plus the next weight class).

In other words, zero wrestlers made the podium in the NCAA (top 8) or the EIWA (top 6) at a lower weight in '99 than 1998.


For Rutgers zero wrestlers who started both years started at the lower weight in 98-99.

118: Greg Theony (didn't start in 1998-99)
126: Eric Bollette (didn't start)
134: Tom Wysocki (started 7lbs up at 141)
142: Justin Hurst (didn't start)
150: Doug Riddell (started 7lbs up at 157)
158: Jim McLean (didn't start)
167: Van Ness (didn't start)
177: Rick Romero (started 7lbs. up at 184)
190: Chris Federici (started 7lbs. up at 197)

For Lehigh, 118, 126, 134 and 190 starters didn't start in 1998. 142, 150, 158, 167 and 177 all started up 7 lbs. No one started at a lower weight.

For Pennsylvania 126, 150, 167 and 177 didn't start in 1998. 118, 134, 158 and 19 all started up 7 lbs. 142 started at 157. No one started at a lower weight.



This post was edited on 1/30 4:10 PM by Ole Cabbagehead
 
Originally posted by josh1728:
I would like to see 125, 133, 141, 149, 157, 167, 180, 195, 215, unlimited
I am surprised their has not been a class action lawsuit by larger athletes. why should there be a weight limit? people were not getting hurt by tab thacker. only good reason is to stay close to olympic max of 125kg/275lbs.
going 197 then 285 is a huge jump when upper five weights can be widened..
Get it done Josh!
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