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    NFHS approves upward shift of weight classes

    After much discussion, the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) finally made a decision about the future weight classes for high school wrestling, and the recommendation was for change. Based on a three-to-four year data mining process of data from the NWCA's Optimal Performance Calculator (OPC) for the body-fat/hydration assessments done at the opening of the season, the NFHS chose to realign weight classes.

    The following will be the 14 weight classes starting with the 2011-12 season: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220, and 285. In reality, there are three key changes coming from this decision: (1) the opening weight class changes from 103 to 106 (2) the stretch that covers weights 125-145, which used to include five weight classes, now just has four classes (3) the back end of the lineup (171-285) now features five weight classes instead of four.

    The area of most impact will be in the opening weight class. The 106 weight, which becomes 108 after the two-pound growth allowance kicks in for most states, will offer greater ability for that wrestler who was previously thinking about making a somewhat steep cut to 103 to make that cut to this opening weight class. In turn, this creates greater disadvantage for wrestlers close to or under the opening weight threshold. While unfortunate for those individuals, the NFHS weight class decisions were made based on real participant data.

    Consolidating the lower middle-weight classes from five to four (125-145) will make for deeper weight classes in an area of competition that was already pretty strong from a quality standpoint. On the other hand, the addition of a back end weight will essentially create a third weight class where there were two previously (170, 182, and 195 vs. 171, 189).

    From a competitive standpoint, this reduces the depth in an area of the lineup where depth was hit or miss at present. However, this will provide greater alignment between the high school upperweights and the college upperweights (165, 174, 184, 197 vs. 160, 170, 182, 195). An additional unintended side effect could be an increase in athletes from other sports participating in wrestling, given that they may face less pressure to cut weight -- a total unknown at this time.

    The ultimate impact of these changes will not be known at least until the completion of the 2011-12 season, though much will for sure be made about them through the spring and summer months. It will be interesting to see if the amount of forfeits that occur in the first three weight classes is reduced, the amount of forfeits in the upper (now) five weight classes is increased, and/or just what exactly happens.
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