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The past two season have been interesting for the 285 pound weight class.

1. Cabell Midland has won the AAA 285 pound title the past two seasons with two different wrestlers. Will CM win it again this season with a different wrestler?

2. In AA/A, the 285 pound class has been won by a freshman the past two seasons. Is there another freshman that will keep this trend going in 2018?

3. In AAA, Haga of South has been runner up at 285 the past two seasons. Will this be the breakthrough year?

4. In 2016, two WV 285 pounders (both state tournament finalists), met in the finals at NHSCA. Both did not attend the NHSCA tournament in 2017.

5. In 2017, we had a 182 pounder eat up and make the finals of the AA/A state tournament. Will there be any lightweights (220 and below) try it again this season?

6. We haven't had a 285 pounder win two state titles in a row since GW's David Smith. Smith is wrestling at WVU now. Both 285 pound state champions are due back this season. Will they repeat?

I think that part of the reason we have so much change at 285 revolves around two factors.

A) In my experience, heavyweight kids from middle school are rarely heavyweights in high school. Lots of the kids wrestling heaveyweight in middle school are in the 195-220 pound range or they are JV at 170 or 190 and they wrestle up to get mat time. If they are working to be in good condition then they rarely push up into the 220+ range in high school. If they are not working on conditioning then they just get fat and quickly decide that playing Xbox and drinking Mountain Dew is easier than practice.

B) Most of the kids in high school that fall in the 220+ to 285 range did not wrestle in middle school and it is dang near impossible to get them to come out for the team. They are fat (not big), have horrible cardio and conditioning and their motivation is near zero.

I have no factual evidence of this, but I bet that if we look into it we will find that a large majority of high school 285s didn't start wrestling until high school.

coach_williams wrote:I think that part of the reason we have so much change at 285 revolves around two factors.

A) In my experience, heavyweight kids from middle school are rarely heavyweights in high school. Lots of the kids wrestling heaveyweight in middle school are in the 195-220 pound range or they are JV at 170 or 190 and they wrestle up to get mat time. If they are working to be in good condition then they rarely push up into the 220+ range in high school. If they are not working on conditioning then they just get fat and quickly decide that playing Xbox and drinking Mountain Dew is easier than practice.

B) Most of the kids in high school that fall in the 220+ to 285 range did not wrestle in middle school and it is dang near impossible to get them to come out for the team. They are fat (not big), have horrible cardio and conditioning and their motivation is near zero.

I have no factual evidence of this, but I bet that if we look into it we will find that a large majority of high school 285s didn't start wrestling until high school.

Well, to begin the quest for factual evidence, we could always begin with the twelve 285 pounders that placed in the state tournament.

Can anybody name at least one that never wrestled a match before high school?????

I know Zach Frazier did. He was a WSAZ champ in middle school.

South's Louden Haga was WSAZ runner up and County champ in middle school. Last year's 220, Dalton Fullerton was WSAZ champ and champ in County. This year's possible 220, Braxton Amos has won ...everything!!

POSSIBLE ???

TrueSouthFanInPburg wrote:POSSIBLE ???

I never assume where a young man may end up in the lineup.

Gator wrote:

TrueSouthFanInPburg wrote:POSSIBLE ???

I never assume where a young man may end up in the lineup.

You are obviously more logical than others.

Zach Frazier has been mauling people on the football field this year on both sides of the ball. Can't wait to see what he does on the mat this year.

Might we see the return of the 2016 285 state champion in AA/A?

Gator wrote:Might we see the return of the 2016 285 state champion in AA/A?

Has he changed schools?

Indy losing the hwt will hurt early in the season but will be ok by state.

ZZChooseTop wrote:

Gator wrote:Might we see the return of the 2016 285 state champion in AA/A?

Has he changed schools?

Indy losing the hwt will hurt early in the season but will be ok by state.

Guess we’ll soon know.

Hollie and Haga could meet up at the Barnesville tournament on Dec. 9th.

I think that will be the South JV team in Barnsville.

ZZChooseTop wrote:

Gator wrote:Might we see the return of the 2016 285 state champion in AA/A?

Has he changed schools?

Indy losing the hwt will hurt early in the season but will be ok by state.

Regarding Indy's 285 situation................who remembers "Big Sam" from two seasons ago? They got a few 285 prototypes in production. Enough said.

bearhugger, do you think this is the year that haga from south captures a state
title at heavyweight? Or so you see Holley from midland winning it again?
or anyone moving up from 195 or 220. Thank you o great one!

My dark horse at this weight in AAA is Riverside’s Austin Chapman. Was JV last year to holstion but wrestled while he was out on injury and only lost to Holley 1-0 at MSAC

TrueSouthFanInPburg wrote:POSSIBLE ???

Good one! Agree

I do think the majority of heavyweights have at least wrestled at some point, whether it be pee wee or middle school. South did have a wrestler in 1998, Erik Spriggs, who never stepped on a mat until his senior year. He won his first match by pin and finished fourth in the State with a 20-10 record.

What about Bob Brown, wrestled " Unlimited" for South circa 1970.

Truesouthfaninhunt wrote:What about Bob Brown, wrestled " Unlimited" for South circa 1970.

Big Bob graduated in '69, the year before me, I think. May have to check my yearbooks...could have been '68. Not sure if he wrestled in Junior High. He was a strong, farm lad and a very nice guy.

JennyHannan wrote:I do think the majority of heavyweights have at least wrestled at some point, whether it be pee wee or middle school. South did have a wrestler in 1998, Erik Spriggs, who never stepped on a mat until his senior year. He won his first match by pin and finished fourth in the State with a 20-10 record.

In modern times, Independence's "Big" Sam Heath was a phenom. He started wrestling his senior year. He had to cut down to make 285 and by the end of the season, he could do 3-4 good chin ups. He won his region with an overtime victory over Cales/Greenbrier West. He lost at the state tournament to Bridgeport's Markley, who was the returning state champion. Cales won the title. Big Sam finished 3rd. Markley finished 5th. Big Sam also defeated South's Haga earlier in the season 7-2. Haga was the AAA Runner up that same season in losing a controversial 1 point defeat.

In 2006 Anthony Parrin finished as state runner up. He only wrestled as a senior.