BOYS WRESTLING: New weight classes kick in this winter

The National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS) adopted new boys wrestling weight classes recently that Iowa will be using in the upcoming season.

According to Nodaway Valley/O-M co-head coach Brad Honnold, Iowa hasn’t made a change such as this in at least 10 years.

“Annually, the national federation looks at a number of things regarding rules, but also participation numbers, weight classes, and a number of other things. In doing so, they discuss things such as the number of weight classes as well as what the weight classes should be,” Honnold said. “They had not made a change since 2010-11, I believe. In making the change, they are attempting to modify the weights so there is more options where there are more kids.”

Honnold explained that the upper weights have become more spread out, from 160 pounds to heavyweight. In that range, there used to be six classes, but now there are only five. Instead, they added a fourth division from 138 pounds to 157 pounds.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association has approved that wrestling weight classes will be 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds.

Honnold said that he’s more in favor of a 13-weight class system instead of 14. He wonders if the new weight classes will affect small schools like NV/OM at all, but he said it could aide larger schools who have more athletes at certain weight ranges.

“I feel like taking one of the larger weights away also deters some of your bigger kids that are football players, as I feel today kids are bigger and stronger in the past,” Honnold said. “This change may deter some of those multi-sport kids who want to wrestle as a supplemental sport to football from doing so because they have spread those upper weights out so much.”

Honnold said his team is “blessed to have kids fairly spread out” at the present time, though projections show the Wolverines having even more prospective giants at the larger weights in coming years.

Teams can begin official practice Monday, Nov. 13, however most programs have already begun holding open mat sessions.

“At the end of the day, we will get our kids where they need to be to best compete for themselves and the team,” Honnold said.

Nodaway Valley/O-M is the preseason 18th-ranked Class 1A team by IAWrestle. They have four individuals listed on the rankings, including 10th-ranked Keyin Steeve at 120 pounds; 11th-ranked Carmine Shaw at 150 pounds; fourth-ranked Ashton Honnold at 190 pounds; and No. 8-ranked Trent Warner at 285.