By Andy Loigu

By finishing third in their weight classes at last week’s super regional competition at Union High School, a pair of Warren Hills wrestlers qualified for this weekend’s state championships to be held at Phillipsburg.

Jarrett Pantuso at 220 pounds and Tyler McCatharn at 285 now have an opportunity to live every high school grappler’s dream, to capture first place gold at the state finals and enjoy the accolades and “place in history” that go with the title.

While finishing fourth would also have qualified them, they earned a better seeding by winning their third place matches. Pantuso pinned Jacob Leiva of Cliffside Park in 2:25 to capture bronze and McCatharn went the defensive route, winning a 1-0 decision over North Bergen’s Ricky Perez.

Due to the pandemic, in a cautionary move, the state’s governing body for high school athletics did away with the district tournaments this year. Instead, a panel of coaches selected the competitors for the super region brackets.

Although they did not reach the state competition, six other Blue Streaks were honored by being selected to compete in the super region action among North Jersey’s best.

Josh Lee at 106 pounds, Kevin Riedinger at 113, Jared Lee at 132, Michael Drazek at 138, Stephen Malia at 160 and 170 pounder Owen Frizzell all represented Warren Hills in the super regions.

While this season is reaching the finish line, the NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association) has been presented a chance to improve the sport in future seasons, thanks to a recommendation offered by the National Federation of State High School Associations.

New Jersey high schools may choose to have either 12, 13, or 14 weight classes beginning with the 2023-2024 campaign. The Garden State currently has 14.

I favor going with the odd number for several reasons.

With an even number of weight classes, every year there are some matches that end with a tie score. Number of wins has been the first tie breaker, but the matches often end with seven wins for each team.

I’ve seen matches decided by the ninth criteria, most first points. That’s usually a takedown, but who wants to see a match decided by the referees scouring through the scorebooks.

With an odd number of weight classes, one team always has at least one more win than the other squad.

Also, as I look over box score summaries each season, I see lots of weight classes being forfeited. While the powerhouse programs always have a competitor for every weight class, many schools do not even have 14 wrestlers on their team. This was particularly true during this pandemic challenged season.

I’d like to do away with the 182 and 195 pound classes and replace them with a 189 pound class. That would give us three upper weights instead of four. Bouts in the upper weights usually are pushing matches, with very little wrestling taking place. Hard to watch.

Some folks who know more about wrestling than this columnist who played basketball, say there should be only 11 weight classes.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.