 Board tweaks rules for state wrestling
Board tweaks rules for state wrestling
IHSAA board allows more teams a chance to earn dual-meet berth, changes rules for making weight.
By DAN McCOOL
Register Staff Writer
June 11, 2007
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More teams will have an opportunity to qualify for the dual-meet state wrestling tournament beginning next winter.
The Iowa High School Athletic Association's Board of Control approved having the top two teams in Class 1-A and Class 2-A sectionals and the top two in Class 3-A districts qualify for regional competition on Sunday.
The dual-meet state tournament, which began in 1987, is held in Cedar Rapids one week after the traditional tournament in Des Moines.
"Bringing two teams out of each sectional and the top two teams out of the 3-A districts really addresses the issue that an individual tournament is a little different than a team tournament," said Alan Beste, wrestling coordinator for the IHSAA. "You could have a strong team, and that may not show in the sectional or the district. If you bring the top two teams, one of those two is probably the top team in that tournament."
Fort Dodge coach Bobby Thompson said the expansion is warranted.
"Sometimes (kids) may not get to Wells Fargo Arena, but they still have an opportunity to get to Cedar Rapids," Thompson said. "This gives them that much more opportunities."
For the first time since 1997, there will be regional meets to determine the field in all three classes. In 1-A and 2-A, the sectional champions will wrestle sectional runners-up, with those winners meeting in a dual on the Tuesday after the sectionals.
In 3-A, champions and runners-up meet on the Tuesday after the traditional state tournament to comprise the eight-team field.
In other wrestling news:
- The board of control approved a mandate that wrestlers have their body composition testing done before their first interscholastic competition, rather than before their first practice.
Testing can start on the Monday after the last regular-season football game.
"It addresses the concern that a lot of coaches had - that they were assessed before they ever started working out," Beste said. "The other thing that it solves is it doesn't require we start testing during the middle of the football season."
- Wrestlers have until their first postseason competition to make scratch weight. A wrestler able to make scratch weight after his or her dissent plan for weight loss before Dec. 31 will receive a two-pound growth allowance on Jan. 1.
"The coaches were coming at that from the standpoint it was unfair to a lot of kids because some kids made their scratch weight right away, but a lot didn't make it until sometime in December because of their dissent plans," Beste said. "By changing it to Jan. 1, the majority of wrestlers are going to have made their scratch weight before Jan. 1, so the majority are going to get their growth allowance when they come back (after the holiday break)."
- All consolation matches at the traditional state tournament will be three 2-minute periods, rather than the 1-2-2 format in some sessions. | 
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