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Wrestling season starts under new rules
This season, wrestling in Missouri has been turned on its cauliflower ear.
With the start of MSHSAA's weight management program, everybody in the sport from coaches to the most veteran seniors are starting from scratch.
"It's going to kind of by iffy at who's what (weight)," Poplar Bluff coach Brian Wisdom said. "We may have a lot of kids in one weight class. It's not like we can say, 'Hey lose weight.'
"It's not like that anymore."
Here's basically how the system works:
Before the season starts, a wrestler is weighed, has their body fat tested and is tested for hydration. Based on those results, the wrestler is given a minimum weight at which they can compete for the rest of the season but they cannot lose more than 1.5 percent of their total body weight per week.
"There's no cutting fast," Wisdom said. "Even if they cut fast, you can only wrestle what the computer tells you what you can wrestle that week."
Which is why Wisdom will not have a wrestler in three classes for tonight's season opener at Sikeston. The Mules have wrestlers who can compete at those spots but just not until Wednesday or Thursday.
"It's going to change wrestling," Wisdom said.
MSHSAA was concerned about the health of wrestlers who lost weight too fast and hopes the program, according to a statement on its Web site, "allows for less concentration on weight loss and more time on strength, conditioning and technique."
Wisdom has spent a lot of his time during the preseason doing paperwork and trying to figure out the new system.
"It's really new, but it's a positive thing," Wisdom said.
Things look positive for the Mules, who qualified two for the state tournament last season in Paul Swesey and state runner-up Jesse Rogers, who graduated.
Swesey is back at 171 pounds where he was 33-13 as a sophomore, although he'll have to wait until next week to certify at that class. He's one of eight Mules back after winning at least 10 matches last year.
Three of those guys are seniors -- 145-pounder Zach Fears, 152-pounder Eric Lundstrom and Matt Boyers at 215.
"I've got a lot of kids coming up that did a lot of summer stuff," Wisdom said. "I can see a big change in the way (Fears) does his moves (and) he's got a lot more confidence.
"It's going to be those kids that went out to do the extra (work) that see a lot of difference this year."
Adam Barker, a junior who qualified for state as a freshman, returns from a knee injury but will battle sophomore Dylan Janes for the varsity heavyweight spot which has been raised to 285 pounds.
Janes made a pair of varsity starts last year and is one of six sophomore returning starters for the Mules.
Brandon Bounds, 27-13 last year, is back at 125 while Jordan Henningsen won 12 matches as a freshman and will wrestle 130. Cameron West won five times as a freshman and will start at 135 while Josh Parkin, who won a pair of matches last year, moves into 140. Kelton Tompson finished his freshman year 20-15 and will start at 189.
The Mules will again be young with Storm McClure, one of nine freshmen football players who came out for wrestling, starting tonight at 119.
"The football team is helping out a lot this year," Wisdom noted. "There's a lot of support with football and taking kids into wrestling. Our numbers are getting bigger every day."
The eighth grade team has just over 40 wrestlers while the varsity team could easily fill a full lineup tonight if not for a few weight restrictions.
"It's kind of tough," Wisdom said. "It's going to take a couple of years before we totally understand it."