What changed in the NFHS wrestling rules for 2026-27?

The NFHS approved 18 rule changes for 2026-27. The main ones:

1. Girls' minimum body fat raised from 12% to 19% (1-5-1, 1-5-2). Below that, a girl needs a medical release to certify at a lower weight. The boys' minimum stays 7%.
2. Bleeding added to recovery time (5-28-3, 8-2-7). A wrestler bleeding because of the opponent's illegal hold, unnecessary roughness, unsportsmanlike conduct or neutral-position false start gets 2 minutes of recovery time, without using blood time.
3. Edge-of-mat stalling calls (7-6-3g). After an out-of-bounds stoppage from neutral, the referee makes one of four calls with new signals #16a-d.
4. Heel-to-buttocks count (5-24-4b). The referee signals and says the five-second count out loud.
5. Mouth protectors (4-2-6). A detailed description of the protector required for wrestlers with braces.
6. Weigh-ins by team (4-5-1). Wrestlers may weigh in shoulder to shoulder or by team.
7. Byes and brackets (1-4-3, 5-3, 10-3). Byes may occur after the first round (round-robin pools, scramble events), and byes don't count as matches, toward the 6-per-day or 10-per-two-day limits, or on a wrestler's record.

Related interpretations: video cameras and audio devices (including microphones) are banned during competition, and hearing aids are allowed.