7 topics you don’t want to miss from women’s wrestling in January
From college program additions, emerging sport status, state sanctioning and a widespread all-time-high level of competition, women’s wrestling is screaming development and opportunity. 2020 is carrying forward momentum from years of hard work.
Outlined below are seven topics and some stats/observations to serve as a quasi-newsletter for January.
3 New Div. III College Programs
Trine University (Angola, IN), Emory & Henry College (Emory, VA) and Hiram College (Hiram, OH) all announced the addition of women’s wrestling programs for the fall of 2020 or 2021. None of the states—Indiana, Virginia or Ohio—have officially sanctioned high school girls wrestling. However, Ohio will now have 3 collegiate programs while Virginia and Indiana will both have 2.
Since 2015, Div. III institutions have added women’s wrestling at an average rate of 60% faster than Div. II institutions. In numbers, 18 NCAA Div. III schools added women’s wrestling compared to 9 NCAA Div. II schools, and just 1 NCAA Div. I school.
Click for: A comprehensive list of women’s wrestling programs: NAIA, NCAA, NJCAA
Press Releases: Trine University | Hiram College | Emory & Henry College
Kate Hill Hired as Head Coach at Lourdes University
Kate Hill will serve as the first-ever head women’s wrestling coach at Lourdes University. She’s just the 16th female head coach at the collegiate level where women now account for 21% of head coaching positions. Hill was most recently a graduate assistant coach at Campbellsville University where she earned an undergraduate degree in 2018. During her senior season, Hill earned All-American status at 7th place individually, and contributed to the Tigers 2018 WCWA National Championship Team Title. The Tigers are currently ranked #1 in the NAIA Coaches Poll.
In Sylvania Ohio, Lourdes University announced the addition of women’s wrestling late November 2019. Director of Athletics Janet Eaton said, “Lourdes athletics is a place where all can be successful. We welcome diversity and inclusion while being the first to break down barriers with stereotypes in a healthy environment. The addition of the sport aligns with the goal and mission of both athletics and the university as a whole.”
Press Release: Lourdes University
Sanctioning High School Girls Wrestling
Wrestle Like A Girl keeps moving forward with their mission. Montana became the 20th state to sanction girls wrestling, and will host their first state championship during the 2020-21 season. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations participation survey there were 40 girl wrestlers competing at 22 different high schools during the 2018-19 academic year.
Sanctioning creates opportunity and energy for participation rates to rapidly increase, strengthening a state’s talent as a result. The University of Providence is the only collegiate program in the state of Montana right now. In an interview with Montana Sports, Head Coach Carlene Sluberski said, “it will be great to go out and get local girls from Montana to come in and compete.”
Across the country, college coaches are on the road recruiting and analyzing brackets during the state championship portion of the high school girls wrestling season. Because of the structure, girls that wrestle in sanctioned states have a greater chance for exposure than girls from states without sanctioning. There’s just not enough bandwidth for college coaches to track down all of the one-off gritty or talented wrestlers from states that don’t provide their names on brackets against other girls if they don’t have the contacts.
Sluberski said, “I think a lot of other states might even have more girls wrestling and they’re still farther behind, so I think that it’s huge for Montana.” To her point, Iowa not only has 4 college programs, but they also just had their 2nd girls state invitational last weekend with over 350 girls. Iowa has yet to sanction girls wrestling. However, with the interest in Iowa wrestling, and excellent state media coverage from IA Wrestle, it shouldn’t be long. But Iowa’s not alone: Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin are in the same boat, having 4 college programs apiece with no sanctioning. That means many of those programs rely heavily on out-of-state talent to build programs in their respective states that should be supporting the growth of their own athletes, first.
Press Release: Montana Sports | WLAG Sanctioning Efforts
Rankings Fuel Exciting Headlines
This seems like the first year that college press releases and headlines throw out team and individual rankings with authority and consistency—it’s exciting for fans, and maybe a marker of superficial legitimacy.
Rankings are not the end-all-be-all, and their meaning varies from person to person, but rankings do add flavor to competition. Rankings bring an element of competitive tension for spectators that can otherwise be overlooked. Additionally, rankings make the talent comparison across governing bodies—NAIA and NCAA—fun. For example, at the 2019 US Senior Nationals, 109-pound NCAA #1 Emily Shilson (Augsburg) got to battle with NAIA #1 Alleida Martinez (Menlo) and really claimed the #1 spot across the multi-divisional collegiate world.
The NAIA has been on top of coaches’ polls since the sport was granted emerging sport status last year, and the NWCA launched their own set of NCAA rankings late last year.
NAIA: 2019-20 NAIA Women’s Wrestling Coaches’ Poll – No. 4
NCAA: NWCA NCAA Coaches’ Poll – No. 2
NWCA National Duals
This year’s NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals was a first-in-kind for women’s wrestling because of the split between competition of the NAIA and NCAA governing bodies. McKendree, who won overall last year, came out on top of the NCAA division with a 20-19 criteria win over Simon Fraser in the finals. Returning WCWA and NAIA National Campions from Menlo won the NAIA finals over #1 ranked Campbellsville, 22-19. Jason Bryant did a great job explaining the NAIA and NCAA final match-ups here: Champions crowned in six divisions at NWCA Multi-Division National Duals
The NWCA Multi-Divisional National Duals used to be just a month prior to the final championship event for women’s wrestling, the WCWA National Tournament. NAIA schools that stayed in the WCWA last year after the NAIA granted women’s wrestling emerging sport status—everyone but Missouri Valley—got a taste of the extended season into March. Now with the NCWWC tournament, NCAA programs will adjust to the extended season as well. A handful of NCAA programs shifted their preseason start-date into October instead of late August. The timing is more aligned with the men’s championship season and is another indicator of the growth and structure being formed for women’s wrestling.
NCAA Votes Yes for Emerging Sport Status
NCAA Div. II and Div. III committees voted YES to grant women’s wrestling emerging sport status on Saturday, January 25th. ESS will go into effect August 1, 2020. The Div. I vote will take place in April.
Wrestle Like A Girl’s Julia Salata was at the NCAA Convention in Anaheim, CA. She stated, “Opportunities continue to expand and this is another step in the right direction. We’ve had an excellent group of stakeholders, administrators, and personnel who have worked hard to make this possible and will continue to help us move forward to full Championship Status.”
There are currently 33 NCAA college programs with the new additions. Once there are a total of 40 programs combined across NCAA divisions, women’s wrestling will become a championship sport. The WCWC, Wrestle Like A Girl and other national stakeholders will continue their efforts to bring women’s wrestling all the way through to championship status.
NCAA programs will compete in an exclusive championship event, the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, March 6-7 in Adrian, Michigan.
Related Press: Wrestle Like A Girl | USA Wrestling | State of Wrestling/MatTalk Online | Transition Wrestling
Coaching Opportunities
In addition to several positions open at existing programs, there will be 19 new women’s wrestling programs in the fall of 2020 or 2021, a handful of which don’t have a coaching staff yet. Athletic administrators are up against the challenge of navigating the developing landscape of women’s wrestling and bringing in experienced head coaches to start their programs with the right tone and recruits specific to their needs.
Open Positions: Concordia University Wisconsin, Davenport University, Elmira College, Lincoln College, Siena Heights University, Southwestern College, Hastings College, Emory & Henry College, Hiram College, Trine University and Lakeland University.
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Transition Wrestling is an independent women’s wrestling news publication.
