Dec. 17, 2005: The Salt Lake Tribune

Schools Drawing Line On Cutting Weight
by Jay Drew

He worked out and jogged with a lot of clothes on and made a plastic suit out of garbage bags, which he wore to make him sweat even more. For meals, he ate apples and “other little things” that wouldn't add any unnecessary ounces.

Jordan High wrestler Brandon Poulson, a freshman, said he lost almost six pounds in a week, all of them so he could wrestle varsity in the 135-pound bout of a Dec. 8 dual meet against Kearns.

Alas, it was all for naught.

Kearns' 135-pounder failed to make weight, and Poulson, despite all the sweating and dieting, had no one to wrestle against.

“It wasn't worth it,” he said. “When you do all that and don't get to wrestle, it just sucks.”

Next year, because of new weight rules and body fat testing being implemented by the Utah High School Activities Association (see related story), Poulson and hundreds of other prep wrestlers accustomed to doing what he did two weeks ago won't be allowed to “cut weight” to get in a lower weight division.

“It's probably a good idea,” said Poulson, who would have only been able to drop to 140 if the rules were binding this year. "But I say, if a kid is determined enough to do it, let him do it.”

But health care professionals and athletic trainers say it is a dangerous practice that should be avoided.

"Not only should [teenage] boys not be crash dieting and dehydrating to lose weight, no one should," said Dr. Ron Thompson, author of a coaches handbook for the NCAA on how to manage eating disorders and a psychologist with the Bloomington (Ind.) Center for Counseling and Human Development. "Dehydration is never a good thing. It's a [national] health problem."

Jordan coach Chris Babinski said he doesn't encourage extreme weight cutting and that Poulson is the exception - not the rule - in his program.

In 1997, three college wrestlers died in the span of 27 days due to extreme dehydration while trying to “make weight.” The deaths prompted the NCAA to change its rules regarding rapid weight loss, and it instituted a 5 percent body fat minimum weight limit in 1998. All high schools that belong to the National Federation of State High School Associations will adopt roughly the same rules next year, with a 7 percent body fat minimum recommendation, if they haven't already.

“In the long run, it will be good for the sport,” said Viewmont wrestling coach Bart Thompson.

Poulson and several of his Jordan teammates said they would be willing to accept the rule changes — “despite the hassles from the testing,” junior Steve Wright said — because they would still be wrestling the same kids, albeit at a weight division or two higher.

“It is dangerous if you starve yourself, but I didn't do that. I still ate,” Poulson said. “I felt a lot weaker when I started [cutting weight], but I feel just fine now.”

Next year, state officials hope Poulson feels fine all the time..