By Kyle Klingman, W.I.N. Writer

What was the greatest weight class ever?

            Evaluating the greatest wrestler of all-time seems easy compared to this question. Assessing a great wrestler takes into account one career, judging a great weight class takes the careers of many into consideration.

            There is also the matter of letting future successes get in the way of good judgment. Just because a wrestler eventually won an Olympic gold medal doesn’t necessarily mean he was always that good.

            This year’s deep and balanced 149-pound weight class appears to have greatness potential based on a group of talented wrestlers.

            At the top of the list are returning NCAA champion and two-time All-American in Minnesota’s Dustin Schlatter along with NCAA finalists Josh Churella of Michigan (2nd at 149 pounds) and Ryan Lang of Northwestern (2nd at 141 pounds). Throw in All-Americans Lance Palmer of Ohio State and J.P. O’Connor of Harvard and it’s a solid weight class based solely on returning All-Americans.

            There’s more.

            Also included are Penn State’s Bubba Jenkins, a 2007 Junior World Champion in freestyle who moved into the weight class from 157, and Iowa’s Brent Metcalf, a wrestler who spent the entirety of last season facing the nation’s best in freestyle.

            Then there are this year’s spoilers; those wrestlers who have made their mark by taking down one of the big dogs. Mike Roberts of Boston University upset Schlatter in the finals of the Southern Scuffle. In his second match, Roberts pinned North Carolina State’s Darrion Caldwell. Caldwell has already defeated Churella and Metcalf but has also been pinned by Will Rowe of Oklahoma.

            Purdue’s Jake Patascil, Nebraska’s Jordan Burroughs, Missouri’s Josh Wagner, and Boise State’s Adam Hall have put up solid seasons too. As one coach put it: “There are ten guys in this weight that could win the NCAA tournament and those same ten guys might not place.” And most of the above mentioned wrestlers will be back next year.

            But does all of this add up to a great weight class? Could it be that we are mistaking greatness for parity? With no clear front-runner at this point of the season it’s hard to know how history will remember the 149 pounders of 2008.

            Perhaps evaluating a great weight class from the past will offer some clues. Consider the 134-pound class from 1981.

            Standing on top of the victory stand that year was Iowa State’s Jim Gibbons. Darryl Burley of Lehigh (champion at 126 pounds in 1980) placed second, and Randy Lewis (champion at 126 pounds in 1979 and at 134 pounds in 1980) of Iowa placed seventh. Sixth-place finisher Clar Anderson of Auburn became an NCAA champion for Oklahoma State in 1983.

            Lewis, who entered the tournament with a dislocated elbow, had already made an Olympic and World team and third-place finisher Ricky Dellagatta of Kentucky had already defeated World champion Sergei Beloglazov in freestyle. Nebraska’s Johnnie Selmon — who was seeded fourth but failed to place after not making weight after the quarterfinals — had defeated Gibbons 21-4 in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament.

            However, the key to the greatness of this weight class is less about credentials and more about each wrestler’s ability to score points.

            “There were a lot of offensive-minded guys in that weight class,” said Gibbons. “A guy like Clar Anderson (who was unseeded) put up 17 points on Thomas Landrum (who was seeded fifth).

            “I’m not trying to demean anyone’s weight class since then but that was an exceptional year. You went into matches knowing that you had to put up 15 to 20 points to win and no lead was safe.”

            Lewis put it this way: “In that weight class you could put 14 points on the board and it would be a coin flip whether you were ahead or not. We had guys that could put up those kind of points.”

            While the length of matches, changes in rules, and constantly evolving technique make it difficult to compare eras; Gibbons and Lewis bring up an important point. Beating a great wrestler usually takes a great effort.

            Anyone hoping to beat Cael Sanderson, John Smith or Ben Askren at their peaks better be ready to score some points. That’s why two of the biggest upsets ever — Larry Owings over Dan Gable, 13-11 and Steve Marianetti over Lincoln McIlravy, 13-10 — were offensive shootouts.

            This year’s 149-pound class has potential but it’s too early to tell how good it will be. We should probably wait until the NCAA tournament and see how many points the good wrestlers score against each other … and then decide.

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