flyingcement

actually guys out for the year: 125: Jore Volk, Noah Surtin, Nico Provo 133: Dylan Ragusin, Aaron Nagao 141: Casey Swiderski 149: Ty Watters, Alek Martin 157: Cael Swenson 165: Matthew Olguin, Connor Euton 174: None (knock on wood) 184: Tomas Brooker 197: Rocky Elam, Martin Cosgrove 285: Nathan Taylor

I'm sticking with my preseason selection of Lucas Byrd, but Romney has been incredible once again. He was under the radar good last year as well.

What a whirlwind! I'm glad it isn't true.

Listed as someone on WS.

But what were you doing on his lawn? That's his property.

we have the exact same preference in wrestlers it seems.

Doug Schwab

Final standings (only top ten shown):

Much higher level wrestling in this dual than in the Scuffle finals...

Bobby Weaver would be proud

Sasso vs Mirasola would be a fun finals for 197

Blake Boarman and Scott Johnson put up a football score in the second round as Boarman won 20-17.

I'll pick two unneeded guys to win their weight class. Beric Jordan and Connor Mirasola

I feel my excitement level as being lower than it usually is at this time of year. Not sure why exactly. It could be my fault entirely.

thanks for confirming

He's done four duals and the soldier salute. Although I'm not sure if he was attached or not at the tournament. So he either has one or zero starts left while maintaining the ability to RS

By tomorrow morning the only thing I'll remember from this dual is that Harry Houdini is from Appleton, Wisconsin

1. I've never taken any sociology class, not even as a sophomore. 2. Anecdotes aren't the crux of an argument that I was making. I did defend @bnwtwg's sentiments, but my acknowledgement of his concerns doesn't mean that I'm using anecdotes to prop up my beliefs. 3. The number of participants in a given weight class is an indicator of weight distribution of the population. But what other point is being made there? That you think we should tolerate a setup where we create lots of mini weight classes to overly accomodate for the distribution? To me that's the same philosophy of trying to find a way to give everyone a trophy. So those totals by weight class are completely beside the point.

I don't think it will have too much of an impact on NIL and drawing away from football - for those that wanted to play football to begin with. I know too many people that start to grow into that 210-225 zone as a freshman in college - which makes it even more bizarre in a way that we have 215 in high school - where the weight is much less common - compared to in college where it is far more common. I think shifting 184 and 197 upward is one way of going about it, and that would be an improvement on what we have now, but I would not be opposed to rethinking all of the weight classes if it makes sense to do so. 125 seems pretty small, but I think for now there is still some relevance. I could also see an argument for bumping it up to 130 and setting weights upward from there. I think 285 is fine to cast a wider net in college and they can cut ten lbs for the olympics. I am curious about the basis of your argument - regarding the rarity of light heavyweights having success. I think most (90%) if heavyweights this year were between 235 and 270 from what I've seen. So the assertion isn't that there are guys being outweighed by 90 lbs each time, but that the very large gap leaves for a disproportionate amount of weight mismatches in the HWT class. Not just in terms of lbs, but in terms of percentage of body weight giving up.

I dont know @bnwtwg personally, but Personal Experience as Valuable Insight bnwtwg's post draws from lived experiences as a collegiate athlete, which is highly relevant to the discussion. While some may perceive confidence as a "humble brag," it doesn't diminish the validity of his perspective. His insights about being a tweener in wrestling are credible and should be treated with respect. Context on Male Wrestling Numbers The critique cites growth in male participation but misinterprets bnwtwg’s concerns. While high school participation has increased, the argument about elite athletes (especially larger ones) being drawn away by NIL and football remains valid. Wrestling's challenges at the collegiate level, where fewer scholarships and limited resources exist compared to football, reinforce bnwtwg's point. Tweener Dilemma is Real Tweener wrestlers often face unique challenges. bnwtwg isn’t alone in pointing out the difficulty of finding a competitive edge at weights like 197 and 285. The critique dismisses this reality by focusing on rare success stories of undersized heavyweights, ignoring the larger trend. Tone and Intent Misunderstood While the critique labels bnwtwg’s tone as disrespectful, it may have been a passionate attempt to emphasize his perspective. Forum discussions often benefit from a diversity of voices, and dismissing someone’s experience based on perceived tone doesn’t engage the substance of their argument. Weight Class Structure Needs Reform bnwtwg’s call for rethinking the 197-285 gap highlights a long-standing issue in wrestling. Adjusting weight classes to better support tweeners would create more equitable opportunities without "watering down" competition. Critiquing the status quo isn’t belittling but advocating for improvement.

Reallocating the weights to assure that one exists between the weights of 197 and 285 is the argument. The rest of whatever you're arguing is some sort of strawman that I'm not sure where it is coming from. A middleweight doesn't get removed. All of the middle weights get moved around to account for different distributions of weight classes that do exist. The current system is completely asinine in systematically removing an entire group of athletic people from getting to wrestle in order to provide a mood boost to some JV kids that couldn't crack the varsity lineup. I also view it a slap in the face of the meritocracy that wrestling stands for.

Because 1) the gap of 90 lbs between these two weights eliminates people from the sport altogether. No one is going to avoid doing the sport altogether if you move around the middle weights (not the kind of people we would want in the sport anyway...) 2) As an added bonus, it directly leads to internationally relevant weight classes. This is emphatically less important than point one, but still a nice bonus.

I disagree wholeheartedly to the first paragraph. The second paragraph would not have been my argument.

Depends on what kind of gum we're talking about. Juicy Fruit and Big Red are acceptable if you close your mouth while chewing