This is a good article on dealing with the lowest weight class. While NCHSAA only has a 106 Lbs. weight class, many of us remember the 98 lbs. weight class. The state of NY is the only state with a weight class lower than the 106 lbs. weight class.
H.S. Wrestling: What should state do with 99-pound weight class?https://www.pressconnects.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/07/16/does-high-school-wrestling-need-99-pound-weight-class-section-4-nysphsaa/1741707001/It’s a weighty issue, quite literally.
What to do about the little guys, the ones who kick off the championship round of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Wrestling Tournament?
New York is the lone state that has a 99-pound weight bracket – the lightest of its 15 classifications. When the national federation discontinued 99 pounds in 2012, NYSPHSAA didn’t go along.
But that may change. There’s been talk at the state level of dumping the weight class. It won’t happen in the 2019-20 season, but there are no guarantees beyond.
Compelling are the arguments for and against 99 pounds.
“There are discussions at the state level right now,” Section 4 Wrestling Coordinator Rick Armstrong said. “I don’t have a dog in the fight. I see pros and cons. The rest of the nation is not using 99 pounds, so I’m OK with New York doing it.
“There’s an argument that all the 99-pounders are classified kids (seventh- or eighth-graders), but there are also many freshman and sophomore who are legitimate 99-pounders. Arguments go both ways.”
Arguments for …
It’s a stepping stone
As far as Section 4 is concerned, 99 has been an excellent weight class in recent years.
Since the 2014-15 season, AJ Burkhart of Waverly (2015) and Dante Geislinger of Norwich (2018) won Division II state titles, Tioga’s John Worthing finished runner-up (2016) and Newark Valley’s Benny Baker placed second in Division I (2015).
Geislinger, heading into this senior season, added a 106-pound state title in February, when Worthing won a 138-pound championship in Albany.
“I don’t think they should drop it,” Geislinger said. “It gives kids good varsity experience.”
As a freshman, Geislinger wrestled at the varsity level for the first time. He took some lumps but said that experience helped him prepare for the following season.
“It gave me an idea how to wrestle and how strong the kids were,” said Geislinger, who won a 99-pound state title as a sophomore. “It gave me a good feel for how people compete, the intensity.”
Wrestling is inclusive
When Norwich coach Bob Hagenbuch was in high school, there were 91- and 98-pound weight classes and he needed them.
“If it wasn’t for 91 and 98, I wouldn’t have been able to wrestle,” he said. “’Of course, I want to keep it. I’m for it. It gives other kids an opportunity like it did for me.”
Of the four 99-pound finalists in Division I and II in February’s state meet, three were three sophomores and a freshman.
“Right now, you have 15 kids who have the opportunity to be in the lineup and that’s a good thing,” Hagenbuch said.
Get ‘em while they’re young
Given the demanding nature of the sport -- the stamina needed to complete a six-minute match, necessary attention to diet to maintain weight and hours spent learning complex techniques -- getting young people interested in wrestling can be difficult.
Many athletes start choosing sports in their middle-school years and the fact that wrestling offers varsity opportunities could sway some toward the sport.
It’s a compelling reason to keep the 99-pound weight class.
Arguments against …
Too many forfeits
Armstrong said forfeits aren’t a problem everywhere.
On Long Island, long a hotbed for wrestling in New York, teams have large rosters – some going two- or three-deep at certain weight classes.
Upstate New York, Section 4 in particular, has a big problem with forfeits. Population decline has led to numerous schools combining and even with that, matches are littered with forfeits and 99-pound matches are rarely contested in dual meets.
One solution that was used in the 1990s could help limit forfeits.
In those days, the lightest classification (91 pounds at the time) and the heaviest (250) were not contested in dual meets. If both teams had wrestlers at those classifications, they’d wrestled exhibition matches.
But in the postseason, 91- and 250-pounders competed for state titles.
There’s talk that format could return.
“The recommendation would be to eliminate (99 pounds) in all dual-meet competition starting in the 2020-21 season and have a two-year pilot program,” Armstrong said of a possible solution to saving 99 pounds. “It would not be competed in dual-meet competition but would still be held in individual bracketed tournaments, including sectional and state tournaments.
“I’m not sure where that would go. A couple years ago, (Section 4) coaches were fine with getting rid of 99 pounds completely, but to do it on a part-time basis. Some guys said if we’re going (to get rid of 99 pounds), let’s do it. Right now, our coaches are not really in favor of that recommendation.”
Though not ideal, Hagenbuch said he would support such a recommendation.
“If that was the only option (to keep 99 pounds), I’d take that option,” he said.
Too many weight classes
On more than one occasion, Vestal coach Tony Policare has been quick to ask of another sport that demands 15 starters in a lineup, as is the case in New York.
“Eliminating 99 is long overdue,” he said. “Other weights should be eliminated, too. These weights are killing the sport.”
There’s talk of dropping another weight class. Armstrong said research has shown many forfeits occur at 182 and 195. It’s possible those classes could merge into 189 pounds.
“I heard some talk the upper weights – maybe dropping one of those,” Hagenbuch said. “It’s going to happen in the next couple years, I think. I don’t know how they’re going to do it. The smaller the sport becomes, they’re going to have to do something.”
College wrestling has 10 weight classes, starting at 125. High school has four classes – 99, 106, 113 and 120 – lighter than 125.
“Personally, I think fewer weight classes would be a good thing as far as dual meets go,” Armstrong said. “It would allow more teams to be competitive across the board.”
Too young for varsity?
Chenango Forks coach Rick Gumble has argued in the past that when seventh- and eighth-graders are considered for varsity teams, it should be because they’re exceptional athletes, not because coaches have holes to fill in the lineups.
But with shrinking rosters, coaches have been forced to use 13- and 14-year-olds and it happens often at 99 pounds.
It’s something Vestal junior Todd DeGroat has noticed.
“It could go either way,” DeGroat said of the 99-pound debate. “A lot of the 99-pound matches are either forfeits or we’re pulling up middle-schoolers, but it’s also unfair to take away the opportunity for a junior who weighs in at 99.”