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Every November, it’s the same story for just about every wrestling coach in the Wyoming Valley Conference: numbers are going down, and they’re hoping to fill all 14 weight classes. If there’s an injury or another circumstance occurs, those goals are dashed.
If a PIAA petition to the National Federation of High School Associations is approved, it could be good news for those coaches.
That’s because the PIAA is seeking a reduction of weight classes for the 2020-21 season. So the PIAA Board of Directors voted last month to petition the NFHSA to reduce the number of weight classes from 14 to 12.
The 12 weight classes would be 110, 118, 125, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 190, 215 and 285. The 14 weight classes are currently 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285. If the move is denied, the PIAA could then ask for a three-year pilot program beginning in the 2020-21 academic year.
The PIAA has cited that the reason for wanting to eliminate two weight classes is because of participation being down across the state leading to more forfeits in dual meets.
If approved, meets and programs would get a much-needed boost, Wyoming Valley West coach Ryan Vassello said.
“That’s the main goal, to reduce the forfeits and get the people in the gyms, and have dual meets last longer than 15-20 minutes. I do think it’ll be a positive mark. It will benefit a lot of schools,” Vassello said. “Dual matches is how you get the fans involved. Without fans, you have no support. Without support, you don’t grow the sport. So I think dual meets are a big factor of wrestling. It’s been a dying breed.
“What everybody has done because of forfeits, they’ve gone out to tournaments to get better matches. I think if you reduce the weights, you get that positive energy back in the gym. You get your fans back and get that support.”
Wyoming Valley West is the second-largest school in the Wyoming Valley Conference with a male enrollment just over 400. The largest in the conference is Hazleton Area, which more than doubles that of Valley West. Still, the Cougars had problems filling all 14 weight classes this past season, forfeiting at least one weight in every dual, and only entering 12 athletes into postseason individual tournaments.
Some folks around the state argue that deleting two weight classes will eliminate more kids from the sport. It certainly will, because it will mean 80 fewer participants in the PIAA Championships. But it will also mean more competition and better wrestlers, according to Crestwood coach Darren Testa, who was also head coach in 2003 when the 14th weight class was added.
“I think it watered down the weight classes when they added in the 14th weight class, and it’s tough to fill all of them,” Testa said. “It’s a tough sport. But you’re trying to get the toughest kids on the mat, and with less classes, you might be able to get better kids out there. You’re going to condense kids down into weight classes, so it’s going to be a tougher tournament pool. Instead of having five or six weight classes, there will be three or four. So there’s going to be tougher tournaments.
“But I don’t think it’s going to make it that much tougher, like when they moved football, basketball and baseball when they went to six classifications.”
Under the same petition, the PIAA also requested that a team can enter two wrestlers at the same weight in tournaments consisting of nine or more teams. If passed, that could go into effect next season. According to reports, that would be up to tournament directors to use that rule.
Still, if tournaments use that, it’s something that could offset athletes leaving the sport due to lack of participation and would give teams more options for less-experienced wrestlers.
“With a lot of JV wrestlers, there’s not a lot of JV tournaments for kids to get in. I think that’s a good thing too,” Testa said. “It’s just gonna keep kids out for the sport. We’ve seen a decline across the state. I’d like to see kids who are out to get in matches all year long. It’d be nice to see JV kids get 15-20 matches a year because they’re gonna be a starter the next year.”
The NFHSA would have to approve the change for the PIAA if the national governing body doesn’t change the weight classes by then. In that case, Pennsylvania would be different than most other states. The state of New York adds a 99-pound division, while Michigan still uses the old NFHSA weights that were used prior to the 2010-11 season.
The petition also would reduce the number of weight classes in junior high from 18 to 15 as the number of athletes at that level are also down.