On Jan. 10, the Missouri wrestling team faced the then-No. 4 Cornell Big Red. Before the dual had even started, the Tigers gained a key advantage.

Senior Alan Waters was awarded a victory due to forfeit when Cornell’s 125-pound wrestler, Nashon Garrett, failed to make weight, forcing him to move up a weight class.

The Big Red’s No. 3 wrestler ended up facing sophomore Zach Synon at 133 pounds because of this mistake. Garrett lost 6-2 and Missouri ended up winning the dual 27-9.

Wrestlers are required to weigh in one hour or less before a match, per NCAA rules. If the wrestler fails to make weight, he can’t wrestle in his preferred weight class. Similar to football and other sports, wrestlers train and practice for a particular opponent. Garrett’s failed weigh in may have cost Cornell a victory.

For No. 3 Missouri, a team with national title aspirations, making weight is all about discipline, coach Brian Smith said.

“You have to be eating enough, and eating the right stuff,” Smith said. “In this day and age, kids are always tempted to go eat fast food, but to maintain your weight you have to eat the good stuff. Our nutritionist and trainer do a great job preparing food for the team.”

The focus on discipline and healthy eating is a change for a sport that saw three wrestlers die in a span of six weeks in 1997. The wrestlers were trying to lose weight quickly, according several news reports at the time. After their deaths, the NCAA revamped its weight management guidelines.

For Waters, maintaining his 125-pound physique starts with his diet.

“It depends on when we are competing, but at the beginning of the week, I tend to eat less,” Waters said. “Then, closer to the meet, I’ll eat plenty of proteins and calories so I have enough energy to compete.”

Waters also works diligently in the weight room. During the off-season, the focus is more on heavy lifting and gaining muscle, but season practices are almost the opposite, he said..

“We focus on lighter weight, but harder reps,” Waters said. “It’s not about gaining, but maintaining weight.”

According to Smith, the idea behind avoiding heavy lifting is to burn calories, “which is key.”

At 125 pounds, Waters said it was a struggle to maintain weight early in his collegiate career.

“I’ve been getting better (at controlling weight),” he said. “Last year, I wrestled at 133 pounds, so I had to adjust, but I’ve been disciplined and it’s working out.”

Between last season and this season, Waters said, he had to work hard in transition back to 125 pounds, a weight class he wrestled in for three years before redshirting last season.

“I’d say 125 is definitely the hardest (weight) to make,” Smith said. “Kids at this age aren’t usually anywhere close to 125 pounds, so it’s pretty impressive that (Waters) is able to do that as a fifth-year senior.”

Smith added that finding heavyweight wrestlers can be just as tough as finding 125-pound wrestlers. Heavyweight wrestlers in college must weigh in between 183 and 285 pounds.

“Usually when you find kids that size they aren’t fit to wrestle, or they’re playing football,” Smith said.

Smith explained he ran into Missouri football center Evan Boehm in the weight room last week and joked that he would weigh him in to wrestle in the next meet.

“Coach, I don’t think I would make weight,” Boehm said with a chuckle.

Listed at 315 pounds, Boehm was dead right.