Junior High out of state teams/9th grade

[mscoach155]

Does anyone have experience with out of state teams who have JR high 7-9th grade vs 6-8th grade. Are the 9th graders allowed to wrestle in a WV tournament or only their 7-8th grade wrestlers.

Any insight is appreciated.

[aacoach117]

No experience with it in middle school, but I know that a few years ago a team from another state (can't remember if it was Tenn or Ky) showed up with an 8th grader on their team because their high school was grades 8-12 and he was allowed to wrestle up. Not sure, but a 9th grader wrestling down to lower grades vs 6th graders might be different.

[mscoach123]

You’d probably want to seek guidance from WVSSAC to make sure, but they will likely point you to rule 127-2-3.2.d which says:

“Students enrolled in 9th grade may participate only on High School Teams…”

I know that is the rule for WV teams but for liability reasons they might hold out of state teams to the same ruling.

[mscoach155]

Thanks for the responses. Apparently, PIAA will not allow schools to compete against 6th graders so the team has backed out.