Continued: Wrestling coaches' goal: trim a weight

Minnesota stands on the verge of a seismic shift in high school wrestling that could mark the state as a rebel on the national stage. But in the long run, Minnesota's move might be a precursor to similar revisions across the country.

Hoping to finally settle a debate that has been ongoing for years and has split the Minnesota wrestling community, the state wrestling coaches association will propose this week that Minnesota reduce the number of weight classes from 14 to 13. The proposal will be presented to the Minnesota State High School League board of directors when it meets Thursday.

No action will be taken by the MSHSL until at least April. But if the change is approved, Minnesota will begin the 2008-09 wrestling season as the only state in the nation with 13 weight classes. Fourteen is the national standard set by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Texas and Montana deviate on the high side, with 15 weight classes.

Since many small schools have trouble filling 14 roster spots, forfeits have become more common. Coaches argue that having fewer weights is preferable to losing entire squads every time two teams merge to form cooperative squads. On the flip side, others say fewer weight classes means fewer opportunities for athletes.

Under the proposal, Minnesota would create 13 new weight classes, beginning at 105 pounds; the current classes start at 103. The new lineup would be 105, 115, 123, 129, 135, 141, 147, 153, 160, 170, 185, 210 and 285 pounds.

A familiar issue

The question first came to the MSHSL board last June. At that meeting, the board tabled a proposal from the coaches association to go to 12 weights. The issue was discussed once again at the board's December meeting, after the MSHSL conducted a survey of schools. The proposal for 13 weights is a compromise.

"Some of the bigger schools could absolutely not live with 12, and we've got some of the smaller schools around this area that wanted 12 at all costs, or even 11," said Gene Hildebrandt, coach at St. James in southern Minnesota. St. James is in Class 1A, the smallest of Minnesota's three classes.

The coaches association has polled its members on the issue several times, with up to 70 percent of the coaches voting for fewer weights. In November, when the MSHSL conducted its own survey of schools that have wrestling teams, 130 of them wanted fewer weight classes and 96 wanted to stay with 14. A majority of Class 1A and 2A schools in the survey wanted fewer weights, while most of the Class 3A schools did not.

"We work so hard to find opportunities for kids in all aspects of high school, and I just hate to see us reduce the opportunities for kids," said Paul Vaith, coach at 3A Hastings.

If Minnesota does go to 13 weight classes, the landscape for interstate wrestling will change. Instead of seamless competition at meets as small as two-team duals and as large as the 32-team, multistate Clash tournament in Rochester, many Minnesota wrestlers will have to be certified under two weight formats; one for competition in Minnesota and one for other states. And wrestlers from other states who compete in Minnesota will do so under the 13-weight format.

Others might follow

Officials from high school activities associations in Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota say their states don't want to deviate from the National Federation rules. But the president of the Wisconsin Wrestling Coaches Association said that state is facing a problem similar to Minnesota's.

"There's a large discussion in the state of Wisconsin right now," said Mel Dow, coach at Prairie du Chien High School.

Regardless of what happens in Minnesota, the National Federation could mandate a change in weight classes for the entire country.

"It's come up the last couple years to the wrestling advisory committee," said Dave Gannaway, an executive with the Illinois High School Association who chairs the National Federation wrestling advisory committee. "We are going to be looking at trying to get information from state associations relative to numbers of kids, numbers of forfeits, and weights with more forfeits."

Former Winona coach Bill Schmidt, who is executive secretary of the Minnesota coaches association, said:

"There are a lot of programs in this state that are hurting for numbers, and I think [fewer weight classes] would be a real interesting thing to do; for us to go out and say, 'We're going to do what's best for Minnesota wrestling even though the rest of the nation maybe doesn't have the guts or the clout or the ambition or whatever it is to make the changes.'"