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Weight Class Changes Ahead For High School Wrestling
By Tom Robinson

High school wrestling will undergo a major shift in weight classes, beginning next season, in an effort to reduce forfeits by more evenly distributing the available athletes among 14 weight classes.

The National Federation of State High School Associations announced its most significant changes in weight classes last week, following a meeting of the Wrestling Rules Committee earlier in April.

A shift upward will move the lowest weight class from 103 to 106 pounds. Only four weight classes will be retained. The highest weight class will still be 285. The 145, 152 and 160 weight classes will remain but they will now be seventh through ninth in order of weight rather than their earlier position from eighth to 10th.

The rules committee approved the new weight classes as: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285.

“The change in weight classes resulted from a three-to-four year process utilizing data from the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Optimal Performance Calculator,” Dale Pleimann, chairman of the rules committee, said in an NFHS press release. “The rules committee was able to analyze data from almost 200,000 wrestlers across the country, with the goal to create weight classes that have approximately seven percent of the wrestlers in each weight class.”

Pleimann said state organizations were kept informed and allowed feedback throughout the analysis and that most states were in favor of a change in weight classes.

The last significant changes in weight classes came in 1988 when the lowest weight jumped from 98 to 103 pounds. The only changes since then were in 2002, when the number of classes went from 13 to 14 and the 215-pound class became mandatory, and in 2006, when the largest class jumped from 275 to 285.

Lack of participation has claimed two Susquehanna County programs in the past two years. Mountain View dropped the sport following the 2009-10 season. Blue Ridge and Susquehanna were recently approved to combine efforts in a cooperative sponsorship of the sport for next season.

WEEK IN REVIEW

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - The Binghamton Senators and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins continue to move closer to a potential showdown between the American Hockey League rivals in the Calder Cup semifinals.

Binghamton leads the Atlantic Division champion Portland Pirates, 2-1, while the East Division champion Penguins are tied, 1-1, with the Charlotte Checkers in best-of-seven series.

A near-sellout crowd of 4,637 was on hand at the Broome County Arena Saturday night when the Senators came within six minutes of taking a 3-0 series lead before having their five-game playoff winning streak ended in a 3-2 loss to Portland.

“It’s an excellent environment,” Portland coach Kevin Dineen said. “It reminds me of the Boston Garden in its day.

“The fans are right on top of you.”

During its winning streak, Binghamton had won four times on the road, three times in overtime and twice after rallying from behind in the last five minutes of regulation.

Portland produced the dramatics Saturday when Derek Whitmore scored to tie it with 5:09 left and Tim Conboy’s first goal in more than two years won it with 12.5 seconds remaining.

“It’s always in the back of your mind,” said Conboy, who went 171 games without a goal since scoring in Wilkes-Barre Jan. 9, 2009. “You wonder when it’s going to happen again.”

After rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Manchester Monarchs in three straight overtime games in the first round, the Senators went to Portland and won the first two of the second-round series.

Zach Smith scored with 12:25 remaining and Robin Lehner made 33 saves April 27 for a 3-2 win in the series opener.

Bob Raymond broke a tie with 3:51 left and Kaspars Daugavins scored his second goal into an empty net to help the Senators to a 5-3 win Thursday.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton won four straight in the first round after losing the first two at home to the Norfolk Admirals.

The Penguins then went out and lost the first game of the second round at home before bouncing back to win, 3-0, Saturday.

Jon Matsumoto scored two power-play goals Thursday to lead Charlotte to a 3-2 win in Thursday’s series opener. It was the 13th time in the last 16 series that the Penguins dropped the first game.

Brad Thiessen made 34 saves, including 16 in the first period, of Saturday’s shutout.

Brett Sterling scored in the first period before Chris Collins and Ryan Craig connected in the third period.

In high school sports, three Elk Lake teams remained undefeated.

The Elk Lake and Blue Ridge boys remained tied for first place in Division 3 of the Lackawanna Track Conference at 5-0 heading into their season finale, which was scheduled for Monday.

The Elk Lake girls improved to 5-0 to clinch at least a tie for the LTC Division 3 title.

Elk Lake is 8-0 to lead Lackawanna League Division 3 softball.

COLLEGE ROUNDUP

Erin Keene, a junior shortstop from Blue Ridge, is tied for second on the Cornell University softball team in doubles with seven.

Keene bats third for the Big Red, which is 11-7 to lead the Ivy League South and 26-20-1 overall.

She is third on the team in hits (36) and RBI (20).

Keene has played 46 of 47 games, starting 45 of them. She has a .257 batting average with 23 runs scored, one triple and two home runs.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Binghamton Senators will be in Portland Friday and Saturday if a sixth and/or seventh game is needed in their best-of-seven Calder Cup playoff series with the Pirates.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will be at the Charlotte Checkers for Game Five Friday. If a sixth and/or seventh game is needed, the teams would return to Wilkes-Barre for games Saturday and, possibly, Monday.

In high school track, the Jordan Relays are scheduled for Thursday night at Scranton Memorial Stadium.

In boys’ tennis, District 2 will hold its team tournament Friday and Monday.

Montrose (7-3) is on path for a spot in the Class AA field.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.

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NASCAR Racing
By Gerald Hodges

Kyle Busch Wins On Fuel Mileage

RICHMOND, Vir. - Kyle Busch beat his teammate Denny Hamlin to the finish line by 1.805 seconds as both drivers conserved fuel during an 86-lap green-flag run to the finish, Saturday night. Busch has won the last three spring races at Richmond, with Hamlin winning the last two fall races.

“We were late to the celebration,” Busch said after his car was pushed to victory lane. “This is pretty awesome. We had a really good car, and we knew that if we could play through traffic a little bit better than the 11 (Hamlin) that we had a shot at the win, and we did that tonight.

Kyle Busch celebrates his Richmond win.

“I learned from Denny Hamlin last fall - and I’m not going to say what I learned, but he might know. We did a good job of doing what we needed to do early in the run, and once we got out (in front) and had to go through traffic, the traffic kind of fell our way, so we were able to pick our way through there.”

Both drivers were conserving fuel near the end, but they had enough of a lead over Kasey Kahne, who finished third, that they could maintain an even pace without fear of losing their positions on the track.

“Yeah, I opened my mouth - I never should have told him,” Hamlin said, though he, too, declined to reveal the secret he had shared with his teammate. “That’s the thing. If I don’t tell him the things I know on short tracks, and the crew chiefs don’t relay information, then it’s not a good team.”

Kahne has had surgery on one of his knees, and it was still bothering him last week during practice.

“My knee feels fine,” said Kahne. “It's actually a little bit tight, you know, a bit swelled up maybe. But other than that, it feels fine. I never thought about it once throughout the race. So it was more about the car. So if you're not thinking about it, it's obviously not hurting.”

David Ragan finished fourth, followed by series points leader Carl Edwards. Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Brian Vickers were the remaining top-10 finishers.

Jeff Gordon was out of the race after his Chevrolet slammed into the inside wall on lap 300, causing him to finish 39th.

Edwards increased his lead in the Cup standings to nine points over Johnson. Busch gained three spots to third, 30 behind Edwards. Juan Pablo Montoya and Ryan Newman were involved in a succession of incidents, with Montoya retaliating against Newman on Lap 237. NASCAR warned both drivers. A late pit stop for fuel cost Dale Earnhardt Jr. a lead-lap finish. He came home 19th, two laps down and fell one position to fourth in points, 34 behind Edwards.

Top-12 Chase leaders after 9 of 36: 1. Edwards-335, 2. Johnson-326, 3. Kyle Busch-305, 4. Earnhardt-301, 5. Harvick-300, 6. Kurt Busch-289, 7. Bowyer-284, 8. Newman-277, 9. Kenseth-276, 10. Stewart-275, 11. Allmendinger-263, 12. Montoya-262.

HAMLIN DOMINATES NATIONWIDE RACE

With a dominant car that led 199 laps Friday night, Denny Hamlin won the Nationwide Series race when the third caution of the race slowed the action after Hamlin had taken the white flag to start Lap 251.

With seven laps left, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ran out of gas while running second to bring out the second caution of the evening. That enabled Hamlin to pit for fuel and tires. It also set up a two-lap sprint to the finish that took the race one lap past its posted distance.

Paul Menard finished second, followed by series points leader Justin Allgaier, Elliott Sadler and Brad Keselowski. Those were the only cars scored on the lead lap.

Josh Wise, Sam Hornish, Ryan Truex, David Stremme, and Jason Leffler rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Top-10 leaders after 9 of 34: 1. Allgaier-305, 2. Sadler-299, 3. Almirola-297, 4. Leffler-295, 5. Sorenson-292, 6. Stenhouse-288, 7. Bayne-260, 8. Scott-257, 9. K. Wallace-246, 10. Wise-215.

STEWART LOVES RICHMOND

Despite finishing 9th this past weekend, Tony Stewart said Richmond is still his favorite track. He has three Sprint Cup wins and two Truck Series victories at Richmond.

“We couldn’t make our car turn for anything. I mean, we have a lot of work to do right now,” said Stewart. “We just never got it right. But Richmond is my favorite track. It’s not one of them, it’s the favorite track of mine on the circuit. I’ve just always thought it’s the perfect-sized track for a Cup race. The other short tracks we run - Bristol and Martinsville - they’re cool in their own right, but there’s a lot of congestion at those two tracks.

“It just reminds me of some of the shorter tracks that I’ve run. It has kind of the same feel that three-quarter-mile tracks did with some of the other cars I’ve run with. It was a place where I became very comfortable right away.

“I had that same feeling when I went to Richmond for the first time. I think every driver has a track they go to where they get that same feeling. There are just some places you go to where you adjust, and it really suits your driving style.”

“I’d really like to see another small track built. Everybody that wants to build a mile-and-a-half track are the ones we look at and wonder why they’re doing that, especially when Richmond is as good a race as it is and Martinsville and Bristol are as good as they are.

“You have three of the best tracks on the circuit, but everybody wants to build a mile-and-a-half track and put grandstands down the front of it and not put as many seats as you can around places like Richmond, Martinsville or Bristol. You can get just as many people around a smaller track and have more room to park them and everything else. I’m all for it. I’m sick of seeing guys build mile-and-a-half tri-ovals. Be creative, be unique. Build something that is your own. Don’t copy somebody else’s track.”

Weekend Racing: The Sprint and Nationwide teams are at Darlington with Friday and Saturday night races. The Truck teams do not race again until May 20.

Fri., May 6, Nationwide Series, race 10 of 34, Starting time: 7:30 p.m.; TV: ESPN.

Sat., May 7, Sprint Cup Southern 500, race 10 of 36, Starting time: 7:30 p.m.; TV: FOX.

All times are Eastern.

Racing Trivia Question: Who is the driver of Kevin Harvick’s No. 2 Nationwide car?

Last Week’s Question: When does Mark Martin plan on retiring? Answer. He has not announced any retirement goals. His contract with Hendrick Motorsports expires at the end of 2011, but Martin said he plans to race in 2012.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.

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