PIAA considers dropping weight class as wrestling rule changes are made

By: Paul Schofield
Wednesday, April 29, 2020 | 7:43 PM

Purchase Photo Options

The National Federation of State High School Associations announced 11 rule changes on Tuesday, none involving the reduction of weight classes.

But that was the No. 1 topic discussed Wednesday when the PIAA wrestling steering committee met as a group via Zoom.

The PIAA wresting committee is proposing to cut one weight class for the 2020-2021 season. The proposed weights are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 172, 189, 215 and 285 — basically eliminating the 182-pound class. Having 13 weight classes will make it easier to break a tie in dual meets.

Two other proposals that should thrill WPIAL teams are adding a fourth team to the PIAA Class AAA team tournament and adding an eighth wrestler from the WPIAL to the PIAA Class AA Southwest Regional.

“I’m OK with eliminating the one weight class,” Derry coach Mike Weinell said. “I’m glad it wasn’t 106. I thought if they did reduce to 13 weight classes, it would be more in the middle.”

The NFHS wrestling rules committee met April 5-6 and recommended the 11 changes for the 2020-21 season. All rules revisions recommended by the committee were approved by the NFHS board of directors.

“These rule changes are some of the most prolific modifications in the history of high school wrestling,” said Elliot Hopkins, NFHS director of sports and student services, liaison to the wrestling rules committee and former PIAA executive. “The rules committee made necessary, drastic changes to attract more young people to our sport without sacrificing the health and safety of the participants.”

The main two rule changes involve the weigh-in procedure for all wrestlers (male or female) and the length of hair.

“When they send the release, we usually get the minutes of the meeting,” PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi said. “The minutes would give us a guide to see if they looked at the weight class reductions we submitted for a pilot program. I thought we’d have more feedback from the federation.

“We discussed the weight classes and other things at our meeting, including how to improve the individual and team tournaments, the brackets, the number of qualifiers a region gets and listen to Pat Tocci, the senior director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, on girls wrestling.”

There were 229 girls who wrestled in the PIAA this past season according to Lombardi.

Canon-McMillan athletic director Frank Vulcano, chairman of the WPIAL wrestling committee, said the new weight classes were the hot topic.

“The NFHS makes the rule book and changes for the entire country,” Vulcano said. “I’m sure the federation gets a ton of requests to review and they looked at ours.

“But the state can do what they want. The 12 weight class proposal was off the table from the feedback we received from coaches across the state. But the 13 weight classes had a chance.”

Vulcano and Lombardi said recommendations from Wednesday’s meeting will be voted on at the May 20 PIAA board of control meeting.

“I haven’t reviewed all the rule changes yet, but the weigh-in procedure is good,” Vulcano said. “In previous seasons, we had to have a female go with a female wrestler to another room to weigh in. Now girls can wear compression shirts and all wrestlers must wear a singlet.”

Hopkins added: “The change to the weighing-in process is remarkably timely, as schools have struggled in the past to identify adult females to weigh in the female wrestlers. This action accommodates transgender children as well; it respects their rights and dignity and addresses any modesty concerns for any affected children. We anticipate that the entire weigh-in process will be expedited and more efficient.”

The hair-length rule stated hair could not extend below the top of an ordinary shirt collar in the back, below the earlobe level on the sides or below the eyebrows in the front, and hair that exceeded those limitations must be covered. It was deleted from the rule book.

While those restrictions were eliminated, the requirement that hair-control devices cannot be hard, abrasive or sharp remains. If a hair cover is used, it must be attached to the ear guards. Additionally, the barring of oils or greasy substances on or in the hair is still in effect.

Shoelaces tied too loosely to cause a stoppage in action and potentially thwart an opponent’s scoring opportunity when the shoe comes off is a technical violation and the injury clock will be started to correct the situation.

If a wrestler, attempting to flee the mat, is taken down or has given up near-fall points, he will not receive a technical violation and be penalized a point.

If a wrestler commits a fourth stalling violation, the match will be stopped and restarted.

“This rule remedies that if the fourth stall occurs in the third period, there might not be an opportunity to restart before the end of the match,” Hopkins said. “This rule change assures that the offending wrestler is held accountable and subsequent points are awarded to the opponent.”

A wrestler will be penalized for unnecessary roughness if he pulls an opponent’s hair.

The final change was a new article added to Rule 8-2 dealing with injuries. Rule 8-2-9 has been designed to discourage wrestlers from using the “whirlybird” sign, putting an index finger up and making a circle, to request injury time from an official to stop an opponent from scoring.

If the official determines a wrestler would have scored had the injury timeout not taken place, the injured contestant will be charged a timeout and applicable points awarded.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.