GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION - DeKalb County Schools

94 GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
SECTION 16
WRESTLING
GENERAL INFORMATION:
A. Wrestling will be a state open meet with separate competitions for Classes A, AA, AAA, AAAA, and AAAAA. Traditional
wrestling teams will compete in Area Tournaments, a State Sectional Tournament and the State Finals Tournament.
There will also be separate competitions in Team Dual Wrestling. Information on this competition is found later in
this section.
B. The National Federation Wrestling Rules shall be the official rules for Georgia schools with the exception of any
special regulations found in this section.
C. Notification of entry in Wrestling must be filed with the GHSA office no later than April 1 for the next school year.
Schools will then be assigned to a geographic area by the GHSA Executive Director, and then will be notified of
that assignment.
D. Free Style and Greco Roman wrestling are considered to be the same sport as Folk Style (high school) wrestling
and are subject to GHSA rules concerning illegal practices.
E. A school may enter its wrestling team in competition for twenty (20) playing dates. Area Duals, Area Traditional,
State Duals and State Traditional Tournaments are not included in the twenty (20) playing dates. NOTE: After
December 15, no new wrestling competitions may be scheduled unless approved by the GHSA Executive Director
in order to avoid manipulation of weight certification.
1. The maximum number of days for an invitational tournament is two (2) dates.
2. On a day/night preceding a school day, a student may not wrestle more than three (3) matches, including forfeits.
On all other occasions, a student may not wrestle more than five (5) matches per day, including forfeits.
3. Contestants must have forty-five (45) minutes rest between matches.
4. Only one day/night preceding a school day per week may be used for varsity wrestling matches, and only one
day/night preceding a school day per week may be used for sub-varsity matches.
5. A student may dress or wrestle on only one day/night preceding a school day per week.
6. The starting time for a single dual wrestling match on nights preceding a school day may be no later than 7:00
p.m. When a JV match is included, that match should start at 6:00 p.m. with the varsity match to follow.
7. A wrestler may wrestle in both a varsity and a sub-varsity match on the same day as long as that wrestler does
not exceed the maximum number of matches allowed for that day.
8. It is permissible for coaches to use “split squads” during the regular season. However, the use of split squads
will count as two (2) of that school’s maximum allowed competitions.
F. Beginning and ending dates for practice and competition can be found at the front of this publication..
1. A school shall not allow its team to engage in any interscholastic exhibition, practice, or scrimmage matches.
Any interscholastic practice violation is considered an eligibility violation.
2. A practice shall involve only eligible students in the member school and their approved coaches. Participation
by outside individuals constitutes an illegal practice.
3. Wrestling matches in practice must be conducted in adherence to National Federation and GHSA rules, and
will involve only eligible team members.
4. Schools having contestants in the State Tournament may provide a teammate of comparable size to practice
for the State Tournament.
5. There will be no Spring practice for Wrestling.
G. No school shall enter any wrestling tournament other than the State elimination series unless such tournament has
been approved by the GHSA Executive Director in accordance with the process in By-Law 2.64.
H. Weight classifications shall be as follows:
106 lbs. 132 lbs. 160 lbs. 195 lbs.
113 lbs. 138 lbs. 170 lbs. 220 lbs.
120 lbs. 145 lbs. 182 lbs. 285 lbs.
126 lbs. 152 lbs.
1. When there are consecutive days of team competition, there shall be a one (1) pound additional allowance
granted each day for all wrestlers (up to a maximum of two (2) pounds for any weight-in). In order to be granted
this one (1) pound additional allowance, a minimum of 48 hours advance notice is required for the opponent(s).