The National Federation of High Schools announced several minor changes to high school wrestling rules Tuesday. Surprisingly, none of those changes included adjustments to either the number of weight classes or to the weight classes themselves.

It was expected the NFHS would reduce the number of weight classes from 14 to 13 with a likely raise in the lightest weight class. Instead, the only changes made in the rules addressed hair length, weigh-in procedures, technical violation scoring and injury time scoring.

Last year, the PIAA announced it would start a pilot program beginning with the 2020-2021 season to reduce the number of weight classes from 14 to 12. Now, the PIAA is in a holding pattern as it was expecting to get some guidance on the issue from the NFHS.

According to Pennlive.com, the PIAA is going to access the meeting minutes from the NFHS to see just how much the weight class issue was addressed.

The current NFHS weight classes are: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285.

Under the PIAA’s pilot program it discussed last year, the weight classes would be: 110, 118, 125, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 190, 215 and 285.

The main complaint from coaches about the new weight classes is the raising of the smallest weight from 106 to 110. Coaches have complained it’s another step in taking the little guys out of the sport.

“We’re wondering what they discussed, if anything at all,” PIAA Executive Director Dr. Robert Lombardi told Pennlive.com on Tuesday. “We’re still in a little bit of a holding pattern. We thought there was going to be some action taken.”

The most significant rule change the NFHS announced Tuesday was the relaxing of rules regarding the length of a wrestler’s hair. Previously, a wrestler’s hair could not extend below the top of an ordinary shirt collar. This rule caused Montoursville’s Gable Crebs to get an impromptu haircut from teammate Dylan Bennett during weigh-ins at the 2019 PIAA Wrestling Championships when then state rules interpreter Dr. John Hosage deemed his hair too long and forced him to cut it prior to the first day of wrestling.

Previously, hair was also not allowed to go below the earlobes on the side or below the eyebrows in the front. In the changes announced Tuesday, all those rules have been deleted from the rule book, along with the requirement that a hair cover be used for hair that exceeded those lengths.

“Removing the hair-length rule is a monumental change,” said Elliot Hopkins, NFHS director of sports and student services and liaison to the Wrestling Rules Committee, in a news release. “It is important to embrace the current culture of young boys and girls who are expressing themselves through their appearance …”

A change was also made to the weigh-in procedure which will now allow boys and girls to weigh-in together prior to a competition. The NFHS implemented a rule which requires a legal uniform be worn during weigh-ins. No additional weight allowance will be granted because of the rewritten rule.

Weighing in while wearing a uniform will allow both boys and girls to weigh in at the same time. In previous years, contestants were separated at weigh-ins by gender, but both weigh-ins had to be supervised by a referee of each respective gender.

During the 2018-2019 season, participation by female wrestlers increased nationally by almost 5,000, according to the NFHS.

“The change … is remarkably timely, as schools have struggled in the past to identify adult females to weigh-in the female wrestlers,” Hopkins said. “This action accommodates transgender children as well; it respects their rights and dignity and addresses any modesty concerns for any affected children. We anticipate that the entire weigh-in process will be expedited and more efficient.”

New NFHS guidelines will incur a technical violation and start the injury clock any time a wrestler’s shoe comes off during competition. The goal is to curtail participants from lacing their shoes too loosely intentionally to cause a stoppage in action and potentially stalling an opponent’s scoring opportunity.

This change was made because a wrestling shoe “that is properly laced and secured will not typically come off.”

Another new guideline will give officials the discretion to award points when a wrestler calls for injury time during a scoring opportunity. If, during the course of a match, the official determines a wrestler could have scored had the injury time not been taken, the injured wrestlers will be charged with an injury timeout and his opponent can be awarded the applicable points.