GCAC

Josh Holden Southport High School

Dustin Mayhugh (130) of Greenfield Central is 30-6 Ian Early (171) of Greenfield Central is 31-4

160 - Dezmen McGinley of Greenfield Central is 21-1 - finished 3rd at Connersville 171 - Ian Early of Greenfield Central is 20-2 - finished 5th at Connorsville

The perception that we're losing a weight in the middle with A,B, or C is NOT false. In all three of these options, 160 is the 9th weight class. Under the current system it is the 10th weight class. Any way you look at it, that is moving a weight class from the middle to the upper weights. I realize that is possible to take a set of statistics and data and make them support whichever side of an argument you choose to favor. I also believe that most of these posts are well intentioned with the best interest of the sport as a whole at heart. Having said that, as I stated earlier, in 3 decades of coaching, we've always had 40-50% of our roster between 119 1nd 160. That is not a trend. That is not cyclical. That is simply where most of the wrestlers are. If we only have the four options, and cannot add a 15th weight, then I vote D (no change) Ed Hamant Asst.Coach Greenfield Central

If the above listed choices are the only options, I vote for B. (no change). The other 3 options all have the weight classes moving upward. 160 has been the 10th weight. It would now be the 9th weight, moving weights upward. We do not need to take a weight class away from the middle, where the best wrestling and most of the best athletes are , and add an upper weight where a large share of the kids are less athletic, and in many cases, fat and overweight to begin with. I have coached for three decades, and we have always had between 40% and 50% of our roster between 119 and 160. Any of the new options would eliminate an opportunity for half of our roster to wrestle varsity. I believe an ideal solution would be to leave the weights the same with two exceptions: Move 103 to 106 and add a 15th weight class at 180. This would allow more sophomores and juniors a chance to wrestle at the lowest weight, and eliminate the large gap between 171 and 189. This would also have the added benefit of eliminating most ties in dual meets. As for the gap between 215 and 285, let's remember, not all heavyweights weigh 285. If the large gap is a safety issue, then let's cut the limit down to 265. Ninety-nine % of 16 or 17 year old kids who weigh 285 have sufficient body fat to easily cut 20 pounds. This might improve the quality of wrestling at heavyweight, and would certainly be healthier for the kid, not having to carry around an extra 20 pounds of fat. If a middle weight can cut 10-15 pounds, then a heavyweight can easily cut 20 and still be 12-15 % body fat.

Thanks to those of you who have voiced your kind words about Josh. He is a great kid from a great family. He is one of the hardest working kids we've ever had in our program. He pushes himself to near exhaustion every day in practice. He will never lose a match because of being outworked. After his disappointing loss to Brooks in the 5th & 6th consolation match, the first thing he said to us as he walked off the mat was "Coach, can we lift on Monday?" Ed Hamant GC Asst.Coach

Chris Hodgin of Greenfield Central was JV as a sophomore and state qualifier as a junior in 1986.

Former Greenfield Central coach Bill Yozipovich, telling our wrestlers: "You gotta be one point better than a ref's bad call."

Played football at 156 Wrestled at 138 (in 1963) Current weight 144