Dear Wrestling Coaches and Athletic Directors-

We are excited for the upcoming 2024-25 Wrestling Season! We have a few items to address prior to the season as we yet again have a lot of changes coming to the world of girls' wrestling.

Madison Melchert will be the new Wrestling sports administrator as Erin Gerlich has moved into the Executive Director position at the IGHSAU. Erin will still be highly involved in all things wrestling. If you need anything, please reach out to either Madison or Erin.

Madison@ighsau.org

Erin@ighsau.org

Bruce Ennen will continue to be our Wrestling Officials Coordinator. If you have any questions pertaining to NFHS rules interpretations, please reach out to him at ennen94@gmail.com.

AD’s please make sure correct name(s) and corresponding email addresses are entered in the Bound Directory for your head coaches, as we will send multiple memos during the season and want to make sure that all interested parties receive the information.

TrackWrestling: Team logins will be sent out the week of September 16th. Assessor logins will be sent out the following week of September 23rd. Be on the lookout for this email from TrackWrestling. If you do not receive this email with login information, please contact your Athletic Administration. They can reach out to Madison/Erin to obtain as needed.

First Body Composition Assessment: October 14, 2024

Two Pound Growth Allowance: December 16th, 2024

The online wrestling rules meeting will be available through Bound starting October 7th. Athletic directors, you will need to create and assign your head wrestling coaches to your school's Bound account in order for your coach to access this meeting. Here is a link to help with that process: HELP LINK if you are having issues creating an account, please use the green chat box in the lower right-hand side of https://gobound.com/ia to communicate directly with the Bound staff.

If the meeting doesn’t appear automatically after logging into the site, please click on the IGHSAU logo to access the meeting.

This email has been sent to all AD’s, Asst. AD’s, Activity Secretaries, and Head Girls Wrestling Coaches from the current directory on Bound as of 8:00am this morning.  

Coaches have until November 22nd to view the rules meeting. Head coaches who do not view the meeting will not be able to coach in the regional qualifying meet or state meet.

There have been significant rule changes to wrestling for the 2024-25 season. This is not a year when NFHS rule books are sent out. Please be sure to view all those rule changes HERE. If you feel the need to order your own rule book this year you can do so using this LINK.

All 7-12 wrestling coaches (head, assistant, paid, volunteer) are reminded to view the NFHS course, “Concussion in Sports,” prior to the first day of practice. Viewing this course is a requirement of the BOEE. Coaches who do not view this course are at risk of potentially losing their coaching authorization. If you have any questions regarding this requirement or course, please contact Madison/Erin.

Tentative Classifications for wrestling continue to change as schools finalize their respective program details. We have our updated classifications linked to our website HERE We update these once a week. Please let us know if you see an error or if you have a change with a cooperative sharing agreement and your school. We will finalize our classifications on Friday November 8th at 5:00 pm. The only cooperative sharing agreement changes allowed after that point are ones that do not change classification.

Girls’ wrestling has moved to two classes for the 2024-25 season. We will have eight qualifying sites for each class with the top two place winners advancing to state in each weight class. We have our host sites are linked HERE for the 2024-25 season.

Our State Wrestling Schedule is pending Board approval. However, Class 2A can plan on wrestling the morning session on Thursday, February 6th. If you are looking to make early hotel accommodations, please reach out to Kylee Walker at kylee@thinkiowacity.com.

All coaches are to update TrackWrestling. It is required from our office for coaches to update records on TrackWrestling before their program’s next scheduled high school event. Programs who repeatedly fail to comply with this new guidance are subject to disciplinary measures from the IGHSAU office. You can find information on how to update records on our website. 

New for 2024-25 Wrestlers will NOT have to certify their minimum wrestling weight class (certified weight class), by making scratch weight. Instead, all wrestlers will receive a 2lb growth allowance on December 16th, 2024. All wrestlers will still need to follow their descent plan in order to get to their desired weight. Please see our 2024-25 season handbook for additional information. You can access our handbook on our website or by using this LINK.

New for 2024-25 season there is an option for lower level (non-varsity) competition weigh-in procedure. Guidelines for this new procedure will now reflect the following:  

Schools will be allowed to use home weigh-ins for non-varsity competition only.  

Coaches must create and use a Pre-Meet Weigh-In Form through the TrackWrestling site.  

Schools must send electronically or present the completed weigh-in form on site.  

The weigh-in must take place on the same day as the competition.  

Host schools must use NFHS established weight classes.  

Home weigh-ins for Junior Varsity should not be used for the purpose of establishing the lowest allowable weight class for postseason. 

Wrestling Handbook, and important dates are posted on the IGHSAU website.

The IWCOA Convention will be on October 19th at the Holiday Inn on Fleur Dr, in Des Moines.

Please reach out to Clint Koedam at Sergeant Bluff-Luton with any questions. He can be reached by e-mail at koedacli@sblschools.com .

Have a great start to the preseason. If you have any questions, please reach out.