NFHS Rules: Forfeits No Longer Affect Wrestler’s One-day Limit

Effective with the 2013-14 season, forfeits in high school wrestling will no longer count toward a wrestler’s daily match limit. Currently, wrestlers are limited by rule to five matches in one day.

This change in Rule 1-4-2 was one of five rules changes made by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Wrestling Rules Committee at its April 8-10 meeting in Indianapolis. The changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“The limit on the number of matches permitted in any one calendar day was established as a safeguard to prevent any wrestler from undo fatigue, thus increasing the possibility of injury,” said Dale Pleimann, chair of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee and former assistant executive director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association. “Since there is no fatigue or exertion involved with accepting a forfeit, the committee felt that it was not necessary to count forfeits in the match total for any wrestler.”

In other revisions, the committee altered Rules 1-1-4 and 10-1-2 to allow the use of electronic devices for video recording and review by the wrestler or coach unless prohibited by the state high school association. Also, the use of electronic devices that enables communication between a coach and athlete during a match is still prohibited (Rule 4-3-6).

In Rule 4-5 regarding weigh-ins, the committee approved a new article concerning wrestlers who have been approved to wear an artificial limb. Rule 4-5-9 states that the wrestler must weigh-in with the artificial limb if he or she chooses to wrestle with it on. In addition, once the wrestler has weighed in while wearing the artificial limb, it cannot be removed during competition. With these revisions, competitors who have been approved by their state associations to wear an artificial limb have the option to wear or not to wear the artificial limb during competition, but must weigh-in accordingly.

“The concern was that if a wrestler weighed-in with an artificial limb (and) then decided to remove the artificial limb for the match, the wrestler’s weight without the artificial limb might not qualify the wrestler for that weight class,” Pleimann said. “The changes require that if the wrestler weighs-in with an artificial limb, then the wrestler shall wear the artificial limb when competing.”

The committee approved an addition to Rule 5-1-1 that allows for bad time if a wrestler is not given the choice of position after a two-point stalling penalty. In addition, Rule 6-6-2d was approved and adds “after a two-point stalling penalty” as an instance when an error occurs in positioning wrestlers that would result in canceled points during bad time.

In other revisions approved by the committee, Rule 4-2-1 states that starting with the 2014-15 season, if a hair cover is worn by a wrestler, it shall be attached to the ear guards. The intent of this rule change is to help maintain continuous action during competition.

“The Rules Committee feels that the sport of high school wrestling is in very good shape and, therefore, made only a few minor changes to the rules for the 2013-14 season,” Pleimann said.

Wrestling is the sixth-most popular sport for boys at the high school level with 272,149 participants in 10,407 schools during the 2011-12 season, according to the NFHS Athletics Participation Survey. In addition, 8,235 girls were involved in wrestling in 1,441 high schools.

This press release was written by Taylor Wilkerson, a 2013 spring intern in the NFHS Publications Department. He is a junior at Franklin (Indiana) College studying broadcast journalism and public relations.

Marshwood sophomore earns national wrestling title

By Dave Barber, BDN Staff

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Cody Hughes, a sophomore wrestler at Marshwood High School in South Berwick, already is a two-time Class A individual state champion.

Now he’s also a national champion.

Hughes recently won the sophomore 152-pound weight class title at the 24th annual National High School Coaches Association wrestling championships held at Virginia Beach, Va.

Hughes won all five of his matches in the double-elimination event, including dramatic victories in both the semifinals and finals.

In the semifinals Hughes pinned Colton Diblasi of Missouri 45 seconds into overtime, then he edged Zach Carlson of Minnesota 3-2 in the championship match.

This marks the second straight year Hughes has earned All-American honors, which go to the top eight finishers in each weight class at the NHSCA meet. He placed fourth in the 2012 freshman 138-pound division.

Hughes, who helped Marshwood win its second straight Class A state team title this winter, was one of two Maine wrestlers to earn NHSCA All-American status this year. Peter DelGallo of Gardiner, also a high school state champion this winter, won five of his seven matches to finish fourth in the freshman 106-pound division at the nationals.

DelGallo won his first three matches before a 5-1 loss to Jose Tapia of New Mexico sent him into the consolation bracket. DelGallo then won two more matches before being edged by West Virginia’s Joey Prata 7-6 in the third-place match.

Hughes and DelGallo were two of 16 Maine high school wrestlers who participated at the nationals.

Other Mainers who won matches included 132-pound sophomore Brooks Law, a two-time Class C state champion from Foxcroft Academy who won two of his four bouts, and Gardiner 138-pound senior Dan DelGallo — the older brother of Peter — who also finished 2-2 at the nationals.

Maine wrestlers winning one match in Virginia Beach included 2012 NHSCA All-Americans Brent Waterman of Belfast and Michael Curtis of Wells. Waterman, a three-time Maine individual state champion who was injured just before this year’s state meet, suffered a 2-1 overtime loss in his first match, then defeated his next opponent before a subsequent loss ended his run in the senior 138-pound division.

Wells finished 1-2 in the sophomore 160-pound division.

Also finishing 1-2 were Brewer’s Victor Irwin in the senior 220-pound class, Tyler Everett of Massabesic of Waterboro in the junior 126-pound class, and Zac Richard of Massabesic in the sophomore 132-pound division.