Judging from recent announcements by several Division I programs, more wrestlers than ever before are taking advantage this year of an opportunity to "redshirt" for a season in pursuit of Olympic dreams.

At least six participants in the 2003 Division I Wrestling Championships who would have been sophomores, juniors or seniors this year have publicly declared their intention to sit out this season and seek what often is called an "Olympic redshirt," or more precisely, a waiver that will permit the student-athletes to use a sixth year to complete four years of competition.

They are seeking the sixth year because all already have used the regular redshirt opportunity that is available to all wrestlers.

Another couple of wrestlers -- including defending Division I heavyweight champion Steve Mocco of the University of Iowa -- also are taking the season off, but they still could complete four years of competition within five years, which would make the waiver unnecessary.

All are taking time away from their teams to train and enter meets that might qualify them for positions on freestyle or Greco-Roman wrestling teams at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Most are seeking spots on USA teams, although at least one is an international student-athlete who hopes to compete for his home nation.

They are part of what appears to be the largest single group of wrestlers to take advantage of the opportunity since legislation permitting the Olympic redshirt was approved in the early 1990s.

And coaches of Division I programs say it's a good thing -- mostly.

"In talking to some of the coaches of our top programs, I think it would be representative to say there's certainly an upside and a downside to the Olympic redshirt year," said Mike Moyer, executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association.

"The upside is that it really provides the wrestlers with a unique opportunity to dedicate one full year to pursuing an Olympic dream. That's something not many people have an opportunity to pursue, and I think everyone is in agreement that the spirit and the intent is great, in that regard.

"On the downside, there is a general feeling that in some cases, the rule can be abused by wrestlers who might not necessarily have the qualifications and are very unlikely to have a legitimate shot at making the Olympic team."

Making the team will be difficult for even the most accomplished collegiate wrestlers. There are only 14 positions available to USA hopefuls for the Olympics -- seven in freestyle competition and seven in Greco-Roman. Most of the wrestlers currently ranked among top contenders for those positions already have completed their collegiate eligibility and are older and more experienced than the student-athletes who are taking redshirts this season.

Calculating the odds

This year's redshirting wrestlers include two 2004 runner-ups -- Jon Trenge of Lehigh University and Chris Fleeger of Purdue University. All six who publicly have indicated they will seek the waiver already have competed for at least one year at their institutions and have qualified at least once for the Division I national meet. But are they ready for Olympic competition?

"If you look at the history of who makes the Olympic teams, the last (collegiate) freestyle athlete who made the team was back in 1988," said Greg Strobel, head wrestling coach at Lehigh, referring to Oklahoma State University Olympic gold medalist John Smith.

Underclassmen have fared a bit better recently in Greco-Roman wrestling, with University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, freshman Garrett Lowney making the 2000 USA team and winning a bronze medal in Sydney. But that, too, is an unusual accomplishment.

"The chance of a college-eligible kid making the team is very slim," Strobel said. "Most of the team is made up of guys in their late 20s or early 30s, because it takes that long to really do that."

Strobel is in a unique position to offer an opinion. On one hand, he served as co-head coach of the 2000 USA Olympic freestyle wrestling team and assisted with the 1996 team, and understands the importance of developing wrestlers for international competition. On the other hand, he coaches a nationally ranked collegiate team whose most experienced wrestler is delaying his senior season to attempt to qualify for the 2004 USA Olympic freestyle team.

Lehigh's Trenge was runner-up in the 197-pound weight class as a sophomore in 2002 and a junior in 2003, and certainly would be among favorites to win the title this season. In addition, Lehigh is regarded among contenders for the team title, and Trenge's presence certainly would boost the Mountain Hawks' championship hopes.

"I'd rather have Jon Trenge wrestling for us right now," Strobel said. "Jon and I spent quite a bit of time talking about this.

"I do think he has a legitimate shot at it. He's shown that he can beat the best guys there -- he's beaten former No. 1s at that weight class, he's placed in his age groups in the world -- so he's done a good job of proving he can do it."

In addition, Trenge currently wrestles with a severe eye condition that could prematurely end his wrestling career, meaning this may be his only shot at qualifying for the Olympics.

"But even with that, I'm asking, 'Jon, are you sure you want to do this? Here we are, coming into a year when the team really could be knocking at the door for a national title with you on this team.' But the best thing for him was to go ahead and make this run at it, so we're helping him the best we can."

Trenge, who is spending part of his year away from Lehigh training at USA Wrestling's facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado, would be required to apply for what officially is termed an "athletics activities waiver" before he can wrestle as a senior for the Mountain Hawks in 2004-05.

Waiver criteria limited

Speaking generally about the waiver opportunity, Julie Roe, NCAA director of student-athlete reinstatement, said an applicant typically will receive the waiver so long as an "appropriate authority" -- generally, an Olympic sport's national governing body (NGB) -- officially confirms that the student-athlete was engaged in official training, tryouts or competition during the year for which the waiver is sought. Criteria for granting the waiver are found in NCAA Bylaws 14.2.1.5 and 14.2.1.5.1.

A student-athlete seeking the waiver also must otherwise be eligible to compete at an institution, Roe said, and can receive the waiver only once. Since 2001, the NCAA Division I Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement has granted athletics activities waivers to 23 student-athletes in various sports, while denying only one waiver request, from a student-athlete who was academically ineligible for intercollegiate competition.

"It's not a subjective decision," she said.

Only one of those 23 student-athletes who received waivers during the past two years was a wrestler, and only two wrestling student-athletes are known to have applied for waivers for the 1999-2000 season after attempting to qualify for the 2000 Olympics in Australia. Those small numbers make the relatively larger group of wrestlers who publicly have announced they intend to apply for the waiver this year especially notable. The size of the group is catching the attention of coaches.

"Used properly, it can be a very good thing for the athlete, and for the United States' development of our Olympic athletes," Strobel said.

"I couch that with the phrase, 'used properly.' I think, as I've heard about all of the redshirts that are possible this year, that the rule maybe is being abused a bit with some athletes who probably don't have a chance of making the team, and they're delaying their college education, or college eligibility by another year.

"What I'd like to see is for the NCAA to have very definitive criteria on how you'd successfully petition to take that redshirt year -- definitive meaning a standard that the prospect would have a legitimate chance of making it, not just a remote chance. Or, there's another stipulation I'd put in there -- a compelling reason for taking that Olympic redshirt year."

The NWCA's Moyer has heard similar sentiments expressed by other coaches.

"Looking at some of the qualifications or the accomplishments of some of the athletes might suggest that their chances of making the team are in some cases not all that good, while in other cases the qualifications would lead one to believe there's a high likelihood they could make the team," he said.

Moyer said some coaches have suggested the possibility of establishing a committee to review qualifications of redshirt applicants. But he said those coaches are hesitant to adopt a "more bureaucratic" approach to granting waivers, and they also understand the pitfalls of making such decisions on criteria other than actual qualifying competition.

"Of course, the fly in the ointment is that there are plenty of stories out there of darkhorses or underdogs that rise to the occasion, defy the odds, and make it," he said.

Strobel suggests another approach: Since the U.S. National Championships and USA Olympic Team Trials typically are scheduled in April and May, respectively, he would require student-athletes to apply for the waiver before those competitions, then grant the waiver only to place-finishers at the events.

"If you don't place in those trials, then obviously you are not of the quality that's going to make those teams," Strobel said. "If you're the national champion, the odds are about 92 percent you're going to make the team. If you're not in the top three or four, the odds go way, way down.

"I think (the waiver) should be used for a legitimate shot. Otherwise, you lessen the special circumstance, and you prolong a kid's college education to a six-year plan instead of a five-year plan or a four-year plan, which I think is wrong."