Strict diets and extra time spent doing cardiovascular workouts. It's a fitness routine common for wrestlers across the state in the month leading up to the season's first weigh-in.

When it comes to weight, perhaps no class is more scrutinized than high school's 103-pound weight division. While the majority of weight classes jump in five-pound increments, 103 stands out nine pounds below the next division of 112.

Nobody is more aware of what it's like to compete at 103 than Cruse Aarhus. The current University of Northern Iowa redshirt freshman earned a 103-pound state title his senior year at Cedar Rapids Kennedy. In a weight class where upperclassmen are rare, he defeated another senior in the championship match.

Entering high school at 85 pounds, Aarhus wrestled 103 on the junior varsity team his first season.

He filled the varsity team's 103 pound division over the next three years. Aarhus says his natural body weight was never above 110 until his senior season. That year he tipped the scale at 120 just one month before the annual fat and hydration test.

"I was going to wrestle 112, but my coach sat me down before the season and told me he needed me at 103 because it was the only way we could get a full lineup," Aarhus said. "It was pretty tough my senior year. I had to workout every night after practice to maintain my weight."

After practice Aarhus says his dad, who also wrestled, cooked him a healthy meal usually consisting of a chicken breast or fish, rice and green beans. He'd then run for 10 minutes, spend 10 minutes on a stationary bike, complete 1,000 jump ropes, 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups. The routine took 30 minutes.

Even with a healthy diet and exercise, Aarhus says competing at 103 his senior season was tough. He recalls vomiting in his first match.

The most drastic cut in weight Aarhus recalls came during an out-of-state, multi-day tournament at Fargo, N.D.

"You wrestle that first day and then you have to make weight again that second day," Aarhus said. "You'll be like six or seven pounds over after day one and then have to cut it all back in one day."

In North Dakota, regulations weren't as strict and wrestlers would use plastics in the sauna to cut water weight.

The former Kennedy wrestler says his struggles to make weight as a senior weren't different than competitors dropping down to compete in other weight classes.

All high school wrestlers must past a hydration test prior to a body fat test at the beginning of each season. Then their weight is monitored to make sure drops aren't too significant.

The tests have changed ways high school-aged wrestlers train.

"What I've noticed over the past several years with the body fat and hydration testing is that the wrestlers are primarily concentrating on getting stronger," Don Bosco head coach Tom Kettman said. "They're losing less weight, and it makes it a lot easier to coach because you don't have as many kids battling weight reduction problems. Kids are going to learn more if they're well hydrated and eating food every day."

When it comes to 103, another concern is one of competitiveness. Aarhus insists even after hydration testing was added, there was always plenty of competition in the division when he was in high school.

"I never would walk into a tournament and have the biggest bracket, but it was very seldom where teams wouldn't have a 103 pounder - especially in 2A and 3A," he said.

Even in the Class 1A ranks, the 103-pound division remains competitive according to Kettman.

"I've got three of them right now," he said of his 103-pounders. "We never have a problem with the 103-pound weight class. In the 1A ranks most teams have 103 pounders.

"That's the one good thing about wrestling, it gives a 95-pounder an opportunity to compete at the varsity level. You're not going to see those kids having success on the basketball floor. It allows for kids of all sizes to compete."

While other weight classes may be more veteran dominant, 103 typically is filled with freshmen and sophomores.

"The percentage of underclassmen is very high," said Waterloo East head coach Willie Gadson who has two or three wrestlers capable of filling the weight class this year. "I'd say its in the 70 or 80 (percent range) and maybe even higher. There's just not many upperclassmen who can make the weight."

For those upperclassmen who do compete at 103, making the jump into the collegiate ranks can also be a chore. The first collegiate weight class is 125.

After placing at state as a junior and winning a title his senior year, Aarhus says he received many Division III offers but UNI was the only Division I school that contacted him.

"I was the only back-up 125 pounder last year," he said. "They needed another one, and when I talked to (UNI coach Brad) Penrith he just said he liked the way I wrestled. He said he liked my aggressiveness, so I must have stuck out to him."

Aarhus says he felt "fantastic" last season wrestling at the higher weight. His endurance improved. While he could hang with anybody as far as conditioning and technique was concerned, size became his biggest obstacle.

"I'd run into close matches and lose them by a point or two just because kids were that much bigger or stronger than me," Aarhus said.

When asked if the 103-pound class should remain in high school, Aarhus recommended making only a subtle change.

"Change it to 105," he said. "I always wanted it to be 105, but I wouldn't say get rid of it. They go from 119 to 125 and then up by five pounds at every weight, but you have a jump from 103 to 112. That doesn't make any sense. … Even though it's two pounds, two pounds is a world of difference."

Kettman believes you must evaluate the number of kids impacted by any change within a weight class.

"It would benefit some kids and hinder other kids," he said. "I don't think two pounds would matter too much as far as a kid moving up, but it would make a world of a difference for a kid trying to move down to a 105-pound weight class."

Contact Nick Petaros at (319) 291-1428 or nick.petaros@wcfcourier.com.