I would prefer not to see the lower weight classes dropped. Ultimately, I think we need more opportunity not less. It appears to me that the lower the weight class like 103 and 112, the more likely to see mainly freshman and sophomores being predominant in it, but that is okay as long as we can logistically support it. If we can't support it logistically, a weight class system more geared toward junior-senior participation at the varsity level makes more sense to me. When I participated in football in high school, the varsity level was almost exclusively juniors and seniors. I believe football, basketball and most other sports are pretty much still dominated by juniors and seniors at the varsity level.
I just think that right now we do not offer enough opportunity for the bigger wrestlers. There are just too few weight classes and the weight differentials are just too large. I really think that there a lot of very good athletes who play football and who do not wrestle. I think many of these football players do not wrestle because they do not want to lose all the weight they would need to lose to compete for a weight class. They end up just lifting weights instead. My guess is that some of the high school football coaches do not encourage wrestling participation because they might prefer them gaining weight and lifting as opposed to cutting weight drastically to make a weight class.
With time, I think wrestling will change to reflect the changes we are seeing in the size of kids today. The addition of 215 is a reflection of that and I think that the 180 class in Texas and the 235 currently in the NCWA is also a reflection of that. It is unbelievable to me that NCAA college wrestling goes from 184 to 197 then all the way to 285. There are so many very good college athletes spread in weights between 197 to 285 that makes that type of 88 pound weight class differential difficult to understand.
