The cycle was ruining his mood and impacting his performance.

Senior wrestler David Bertolino had to cut 14 to 15 pounds by each weekend to qualify for the 174-pound weight class, then “by Monday I’d be 14 over again.”

“I did everything I could,” Bertolino said. “A nutritionist couldn’t have told me to do anything different.”

Making weight: a process that requires more attention for some wrestlers than others, but a necessary evil in the sport of wrestling.

This season, five former starters on the ISU wrestling team will be moving up weight classes, hoping to alleviate some of the stress of cutting weight. Bertolino, the starter in 2005 at 174 pounds, is moving up two weights to challenge for the 197-pound roster spot this season.

Sophomores Nick Fanthorpe (133), Nick Gallick (141), Mitch Mueller (149) and Cyler Sanderson (157) are bumping up one weight class on a Cyclone team preparing for NCAA Championship contention.

Fanthorpe, who was consistently 10 pounds over his former weight class, said the shift was expected by the team. Coach Cael Sanderson said the change is in the best interest of the coaches and athletes.

“There is just that mentality where in wrestling you think you’ve got to cut weight,” Cael said, “but that’s really not the case. We want our guys to feel good and be excited and be able to step on the mat and wrestle hard. And they’re are not going to be small for their weight class. They’re still going to be disciplined and work real hard to get down to weight.”

The second-year head coach said history shows wrestlers who “follow their bodies” end up performing better. Sanderson moved from the 184 to the 197-pound weight class in his senior season, but said his personal success with that transition never entered his mind when considering the lineup shift.

“When they’re freshmen, they’re still growing, they’re still maturing, and if we can go up and be strong and feel good, then that’s what we’re going to do,” Sanderson said. “I’m not worried about the weight classes at all.”

Fanthorpe, who was one match away from placing at the NCAA Tournament in March, said the sophomore group’s growth necessitated a change.

“Even last year, guys cutting weight – I don’t think it affected anyone’s performance, but in the off-season guys just got bigger,” Fanthorpe said. “I think it happened a little bit sooner than everyone thought, but it was bound to happen.”

Mueller dislocated his elbow a month-and-a-half before the NCAA Tournament, but returned to qualify and win a match in the tournament. The injury, however, kept him from competing in summer freestyle tournaments.

Instead, he hit the weight room, making a personal weight change necessary.

“I started gaining more weight,” Mueller said. “Before I knew it, I was like [1]66 or whatever. I just decided then ‘I’m going to wrestle at 49 regardless.'”

Cyler Sanderson, who also finished one match away from All-American status last season, said he has been working to get stronger. He said, “Guys might be a little bigger, but I’m going to work on outhustling ’em.”

His brother, Cael, said 157 pounds is his natural weight class.

“He’s big, he’s strong, he’s quick. Yeah, I’ve heard people, you know, suggest that he’s not that big, but they don’t know what he weighs,” Sanderson said. “He’s a big, strong, fast kid. The bigger they get, the better they’re going to do.”

Bertolino decided midway through the summer that he was going to move up. He has wrestled at 84 kg (185 pounds) in freestyle tournaments throughout his collegiate career, finishing second at the University Nationals this summer.

“I just didn’t want [weight] to be an issue and look back and say ‘you know, I was never a 74-pounder,'” Bertolino said. “At 74, I was never wrestling to my potential at all.”

Bertolino said he saw his former roommate, four-time NCAA-qualifier Nick Passalono, have much better demeanor after moving up a weight his senior season.

“The season’s not as grueling and long,” he said. “It’ll be more fun I think. Just when you cut weight, you get pissy and don’t want to talk to anyone.”