Women’s Wrestling Gains Unprecedented Success as They Surge Towards NCAA Championship Consideration

Women’s wrestling championship has always been an active part of the debate. In spite of being an old sport, for women, wrestling was first recognized internationally in 1989. Since then, it was only a sport fighting for its recognition in the Olympics. Eventually, it was first added as an Olympic sport in 2004. However, there are, as such, no championships available for women’s freestyle wrestling at the high school level.

But, this situation is going to be changed soon, it seems. Women’s wrestling is going through a dream-come-true phase in the US. Very recently, the New York High School Committee Break Barriers to Welcome Girls to the Freestyle Wrestling Mat. This was soon followed by the Rhode Island. Taking this further ahead, once again, women’s wrestling has achieved a fresh milestone.

Championing Equality on the Wrestling Mat

On October 19, NCAA Wrestling posted a tweet on their X. The tweet reads, “Women’s wrestling is on track to become the NCAA’s 91st NCAA championship, based on the latest sports sponsorship data released this month.” The news brings another good news for women’s wrestling that is already making waves.

This success is a testament to the surge of Women’s wrestling in the country. The NCAA has acknowledged it in its release. It says, “Women’s wrestling highlighted the six sports in the Emerging Sports for Women program, meeting the requirements to be considered for an NCAA championship. Specifically, more than 40 schools sponsored women’s wrestling at the varsity level and met the sport’s minimum competition and participant requirements in the 2022-23 academic year.” 

This puts wrestling “on track to become the sixth sport to earn NCAA championship status through the Emerging Sports for Women program”, NCAA pointed out. The program has previously approved rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003) and beach volleyball (2015).

How Does Wrestling Get Recognition at the NCAA Championship?

The NCAA release statement was kind of echoed by Ragean Hill, chair of the Committee on Women’s Athletics and executive associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Charlotte. Hill said, “What women’s Wrestling has accomplished in a short period of time is exceptional. They are a model practice on how to move the needle forward,…The CWA is excited that young women will have another championship sport to participate in at the collegiate level and while pursuing their education. I can’t wait to witness the sport’s first NCAA championship!”

Read more: Despite Her ‘Disappointing’ Comeback in the 2023 Wrestling World Championship, USA’s Elite Wrestler Cements Her Spot as the World #1

The Women’s Athletics Committee will discuss the women’s wrestling championship in its February meeting. This process will be highly beneficial for providing ample opportunities for feedback on details, including bracket size, dates, championship format, and committee composition. However, a crucial financial oversight that must be considered before women’s wrestling championships is yet to be decided.

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