Finals will begin on Saturday, Feb 21 at 3:00pm. This is earlier than in years past and we?ll be trying something new with the lineup. We?ll introduce the competitors starting at 3:00, then wrestle girls & boys matches in ascending order by weight. Medals will be awarded at the conclusion of all matches.

As I?ve done every year since it was published, I recommend reading Kalani Simpson?s article on the state wrestling tournament. He does a great job capturing the emotions that our wrestlers feel.

Also, for those who are interested, I posted the Boys and Girls brackets brackets here:

2009 HHSAA State Wrestling Championship ? Boys brackets
2009 HHSAA State Wrestling Championship ? Girls brackets

With 11 seeded wrestlers in the boys? division and 6 in the girls?, we?re well positioned to follow through on a great season. Please stop by if you can and cheer us on?we?ll need all the help we can get!

The program has two main purposes. First, it identifies the lowest weight that a wrestler can healthily achieve during the season; and second, it sets a descent plan that dictates how quickly (or rather, slowly) the wrestler can descend to that weight class.

Determining the lowest weight class that wrestlers can compete at is a three-step process. First, they must pass a hydration test; second, they are given a skin fold test using calipers; and finally, they’re weighed. The entire process is conducted by the ILH trainers and overseen by the league coordinator.

There are four designated days on which this testing is done. This year, those dates are November 25th, December 9th, December 16th, and January 9th. Once a wrestler passes the test, they’re done and don’t need to take the test again on the subsequent dates.

At Punahou, our goal is to have as many of our wrestlers pass the first testing session as possible. We usually have one or two who need to go to the second session and rarely have anyone at the third or fourth.

Once the lowest healthy weight is determined, a descent plan is computed and posted to the National Wrestling Coaches of America (NWCA) web site. By rule, a wrestler is only allowed to lose 1.5% of their body weight each week. At each week’s weigh-in, the coaches must submit a form that shows where every wrestler is vs. their decent plan and each week’s weigh-in data is uploaded to the NWCA site so the state can track everyone.

If you’re interested in all the details, the official HHSAA weight monitoring rules and reference guide can be found here.

If you have any questions about how this impacts your wrestler’s situation, please don’t hesitate to contact one of the coaches.

For the wrestlers, the weight monitoring dates have also been set. They are:

November 25, 2008 at Iolani
December 2, 2008 at Punahou
December 9, 2008 at Punahou
January 9, 2009 at Kamehameha 

Our regular season begins Saturday, January 3, 2009 at Punahou. Varsity will be wrestling Damien and Pac-5, JV will wrestle Damien, and the Girls will wrestle Pac-5.

We’ll be posting the full schedule in the fall.

Note that the schedule will seem a little out of sync this year since we need to cram all our dual meets into one less week.