Avila University Adds Women’s Wrestling

Kansas City, Mo. — Avila University announced the addition of women’s wrestling for the 2021-22 season. The Eagles will join the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) and are the 39th NAIA program to add the sport. Other KCAC members with women’s wrestling include Friends (KS), Hastings (NE), Midland (NE), Ottawa (KS), Jamestown (ND), Saint Mary (KS) and York (NE). 

Missouri has seen tremendous growth in high school girls’ participation since the sport was sanctioned in 2018. Less than 200 girls took the hydration test in 2018. But in 2019 the NFHS reported 956 and in 2020 that number was up to 1,425. 

Missouri now has eight collegiate women’s wrestling programs with Avila added to the mix, and the programs are split evenly between NAIA and NCAA institutions. Visit our updated college directory for a complete list of varsity programs. 

Avila’s full release on the addition of men’s and women’s wrestling and bowling can be read, here.