Hinsa,
I think you make some great points.
One thing that I forgot to mention when I posted that first article is that the biggest problem when determining to drop from 14 to 12 weights is not whether or not it would benefit the sport, but rather how to cut out 2 weights. Would we simply cut 2 weights and keep the remaining 12, or would we decide to scrap the current weight system and come up with a completely new set of 12 weights. If that was the case how low would we start? would we want to spread the weights evenly or have more middle weights, light weights, or heavyweights.
I'd like to see the classes dropped to 12 because of the difficulty in fielding full teams, especially in Class B.
Yes you are right in saying that Class B has a more difficult time as so far through 20 Class B-Duals, 18 class A duals there have been 109 forfeits in weight classes in Class B (23 of them were double forfeits where neither team had a wrestler at the weight class) compared to Class A, which has had 36 Byes, 0 of which were double forfeits.
And I believe the classes that should be dropped need to be at the high end. That seems to be where most of the forfeits come from.
But here's where you're wrong
I have not broke them down by every single individual weight class, But I did single out 103 and 285. Then I put the remaining 12 weights into groups of 4 (112-130, 135-152, and 160-215)
In Class A so far here is how they are breaking down
103: 5 Forfeits= 13.8%
112-130: 16 Forfeits= 44.4% which is 11.1% per weight class
135-152: 9 Forfeits= 25% which is 6.25% per weight class
160-215: 5 Forfeits= 13.8% which is 3.5%
285: 1 Forfeit= 2.8%
So in Class A so far the lightest weights are the most difficult to fill and the empty weight classes DECREASE as you get higher in weight.
In Class B so far it goes like this
103: 5 Forfeits= 4.6%
112-130:= 29.4% which is 7.3% per weight class
135-152= 26.6% which is 6.7% per weight class
160-215= 32.1% which is 8% per weight class
285= 7.3%
So in class B 103 is the lowest forfeited weight and the remaining 13 weight classes are all within 1.3% of eachother.
Statewide:
103- 6.7%
112-130= 8% average
135-152= 6.4% average
160-215= 6.7% average
285= 6%