09/23/21 – New Wrestling Alignment Approved for 2021-22

September 23, 2021 Wrestling Blog Updates

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During the course of its meeting at the KHSAA offices on Wednesday, the Board of Control approved a new wrestling draft alignment that will go into effect for the 2021-22 season. The Board considered multiple options and reviewed past participation data from the regional tournaments before making its final determination.

The immediate implementation for the new alignment was supported by a survey conducted by the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association, which showed 78 percent of its responses in favor of the alignment going into effect this year (73 of 94 responses).

The alignment will be updated at KHSAA.org in the coming days but can be viewed here.

Additionally, the Board approved a recommendation regarding the wrestling postseason to hold two semi-state events prior to the final weekend of the state tournament. The semi-state events will be conducted as Regions 1-4 and 5-8, with seeded pairings and wrestling to eight places, with the top eight advancing to state. As more details are finalized, that information, along with sites for the semi-state round, will be published. The semi-state events are currently scheduled for Feb. 18-19, followed by the state tournament final rounds on Feb. 25-26 at George Rogers Clark HS.

As a reminder to all coaches heading into the upcoming season, a recent rule change by the NFHS afforded states the ability to choose the number of weight classes for both boys’ and girls’ competition between 12, 13 or 14 classes with new class boundaries in each. A survey was conducted of the member schools to determine their preference and the results were approved at the May 2021 Board of Control meeting. That survey showed that the majority of KHSAA schools favored keeping 14 weight classes for the boys (46 in favor of 14, 23 in favor of 12, 7 in favor of 13). The majority favored 12 classes for events held exclusively for females (30 schools favoring 12 classes, 8 favoring 13 weight classes and 29 favoring 14 classes).

The survey called for immediate implementation of new weight classes proposed by the NFHS based on the survey results with evaluation after the 23-24 season and such recommendation was approved by the Board of Control. During the rules clinic and in follow-up communication, we will continue to offer guidance for travel to other states that may or may not use the new class boundaries during the phase-in period for the new weight classes as well as emphasize the necessity for accurate data within the weight management system.

For the upcoming season, the weight classes will be:

BOYS
14 Weight Classes – 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215, 285

GIRLS
12 Weight Classes – 100, 107, 114, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165, 185, 235

– KHSAA-

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 285 member schools both public and non-public. The KHSAA awards 215 state championships to 51 teams and 164 individuals in 13 sports and 6 sport-activities, funds catastrophic insurance coverage for its more than 106,000 rostered member school student-athletes, provides coaching education and sports safety programs for more than 12,000 coaches, and licenses and facilitates the distribution of training material for over 4,000 contest officials.

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