7 topics you don't want to miss from women's wrestling in February

The shortest month of the year didn’t lose any momentum from January’s start to 2020.

There are now 78 colleges and universities that offer women’s wrestling: 35 NAIA, 36 NCAA and 3 NJCAA. 22% of head coaches are women: 8 NAIA, 8 NCAA and 1 NJCAA. 29 states have collegiate opportunities, and 20 states have sanctioned girls high school wrestling.

Outlined below are several topics to serve as a quasi-newsletter for February.

Emily Webster inducted into OCU Hall of Fame
Emily Tew, formerly Webster, was inducted into the Oklahoma City University Hall of Fame—the highest honor for OCU athletics. Emily is one of only four 4 x WCWA National Champions, and stands alongside Helen Maroulis, Victoria Anthony and Kayla Miracle. She won her titles from 2011-15, racking up a 118-0 college record.

Press Release: Oklahoma City University

5 new faces coaching college women’s wrestling
Cara Romeike, Hastings College
Hastings College is an NAIA program that announced the addition of women’s wrestling in October, 2019. Now Head Coach Cara Romeike is coming back to the midwest after spending a year teaching physics, and starting Utah’s first girls wrestling program at Cyprus High School. Cara is a 2019 graduate from the University of Jamestown, where she was the 130 pound runner-up at the 2019 NAIA National Invitational and a 6th place WCWA All-American. She’s already been on the recruiting trail, with her latest stop in her home state of Texas for girls state. We did a podcast with Cara in September 2019. Listen to her fascinating story, here.

“I am extremely passionate about the sport of wrestling, as well as promoting the sport to women across the country. Hastings College has a lot to offer academically and has a wonderful sense of community. I could not be more grateful to work for such a fine institution.”

Amy Hildebrandt, Trine University
Trine University, an NCAA Div. III school, announced the addition of women’s wrestling mid January. A native of Indiana, Hildebrandt is excited to be in state for the opportunity to lead the program. She’s a 2018 graduate of Purdue University. While Amy didn’t compete in college, she’s never been far from the mat. She was part of her high school’s first girls wrestling program, and has been training with her sister Sarah, in Colorado Springs. Amy coached at Penn High School for the last two years. She’ll be on campus intermittently through the summer, and back full-time in the fall.

“Women’s wrestling has always been my passion and I am excited to be a part of the sport’s growth. I look forward to introducing the Trine community to women’s wrestling and leading a new group of young women at the University.”

LeRoy Gardner, University of the Ozarks
The University of the Ozarks, an NCAA Div. III school located in Clarksville, Arkansas, will be led by LeRoy Gardner. Gardner has been the head coach for the men’s program since 2016. He has a rich history in the sport with coaching and competitive experience, and was a 3 x All-American for Wartburg College. Arkansas just sanctioned girls wrestling in 2019, and the Ozarks is now one of two programs in the state.

“As a wrestler and a coach I have been excited about the growth of women’s wrestling,” Gardner said. “Now, even more so with the growth in the region and the opportunity to share with these student-athletes all the University of the Ozarks has to offer. It is an exciting time for our sport, campus and community.”

Pete Hansen, Emory and Henry College
NCAA Div. III Emory and Henry College added men’s and women’s wrestling in early January. The announcement was quickly followed by news that Pete Hansen would lead the new program. He was most recently an assistant coach for the Wasps football team. Athletically, Hansen wrestled for Southern Virginia University where he was an NWCA All-American. Hansen will coach both the men’s and women’s wrestling programs.

“The opportunity to build something from the ground up doesn’t come around every day. As a coach, if that doesn’t get your blood pumping, I don’t know what does.”

Kevin Birmingham, Greensboro College
Kevin Birmingham will lead North Carolina’s first women’s wrestling program at Greensboro College. Birmingham has been the men’s coach since the 2019 season, and served as an assistant since 2017. Coach Birmingham wrestled at Div. I Davidson College, and was a 2014 national qualifier.

“The sport is really taking off at the high-school level, and where are those women going? I want them to come to Greensboro College.”

Each of the male hires this month will take on double responsibilities, coaching the men’s and women’s programs at their respective institutions. The women hires will be fully focused on the women’s teams. At this moment, 22% of collegiate programs are led by women.

NMU brings back women’s wrestling
NCAA Div. II Northern Michigan University is bringing women’s wrestling back to campus. From 2004-2012, campus was home to the United States Olympic Education Center and some of the talent that’s still competing on the U.S. national team today went through the program. The new program will operate as a club for the upcoming season, and then transition to a varsity sport in the fall of 2021.

Michigan now has 4 wrestling programs: Adrian College, Davenport University, Siena Heights University and Northern Michigan. The state has yet to sanction high school girls wrestling.

Press: Transition Wrestling | Northern Michigan

2019-20 regular season wraps up
The end of February marked the end of the regular season for the NAIA and NCAA. Gannon’s 23-19 win over East Stroudsburg on Saturday was the final dual of the season. The number of duals scheduled this season organically leveled with program proximity. There’s no denying that duals are way more exciting for fans than tournaments, which means spectatorship and fan engagement is headed in a great direction.

McKendree and Campbellsville top the team rankings for the NCAA and NAIA. NCAA programs compete in the first-ever National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships March 6-7 in Adrian, Michigan. NAIA programs compete in the 2nd annual National Invitational March 13-14 in Jamestown, North Dakota.

Latest Rankings: NAIA, NCAA

2020 WCWA National Championships
Campbellsville ran away with the 2020 WCWA team title, securing the #1 spot by 117 points ahead of Life University. The finals matches showcased battles between top-ranked freshman, returning champions and national team members. Each of these WCWA champions earned a spot at the Olympic Team Trials Qualifier in April:

101 – Esthela Trevino (Umpqua)
109 – Emily Shilson (Augsburg)
116 – Jaslynn Gallegos (Presbyterian)
123 – Julia Vidallon (Life)
130 – Abigail Nette (Campbellsville)
136 – Zoe Nowicki (Adrian)
143 – Morgan Norris (Presbyterian)
155 – Rachel Watters (Oklahoma City)
170 – Mariah Harris (Campbellsville)
191 – Alexandra Castillo (Campbellsville)

The 2020 WCWA National Championships took a hit in terms of memberships this season. The top 3 teams from last season didn’t compete, and a handful of top-ranked teams were at the Bearcat Open in Lebanon, Illinois. With the abrupt shift toward competing in NAIA and NCAA postseason events, the WCWA organization only had 26 members this season.

Whatever flare the WCWA’s lacked from numbers, it gained right back when USA Wrestling announced that wrestle-offs for the Pan Am Olympic Qualifiers would take place on day two. Those wrestle-offs featured Helen Maroulis, Alli Ragan, Sarah Hildebrandt, Whitney Conder, Katherine Shai, Jenna Burkert and Haley Augello. It was at least semi-ironic that the first year King didn’t compete they had 3 alumni featured in the wrestle-offs.

Press: Transition Wrestling | USA Wrestling (History)

NAIA Conference Championships
Four conferences sponsored a championship this season—yet another indicator of the growing structure in the NAIA to support women’s wrestling. The Mid-South Conference (MSC) and Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) added the sport for the 2017-18 season. New this year was the Sooner Athletic Conference and the Cascade Collegiate Conference.

All of the brackets ended up being fairly small, but it’s part of the growth process—build it, they will come. Campbellsville won the MSC for the second time in three seasons, and Jamestown won the KCAC back-to-back. Lyon edged out Wayland Baptist by just 3 points to win the first SAC Championships. To make it even more exciting, they had three champions and two runners-up apiece. Menlo continued showcasing their team dominance heading into nationals by winning the first-ever CCC Championships 15 points ahead of Southern Oregon.

Conference Recaps: MSC, SAC, KCAC, CCC

Coaching Opportunities
In addition to several positions open at existing programs, there will be 22 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, Hiram College, Northern Michigan University and Lakeland University.

More February Headlines

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7 topics you don’t want to miss from women’s wrestling in February

Published by Gabrielle Lord-Klein

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Published by Gabrielle Lord-Klein