NCAA postseason tournament officially announced, vote for emerging sport status approaches
The Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Coalition shared a press release on December 16th with details about the first National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships—a postseason tournament exclusively for NCAA member institutions.
The First Annual Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships will be hosted by Adrian College, and is scheduled for March 6-7, 2020.
The announcement nearly brings the story we’ve been following since September full circle, when several NCAA programs quietly added a new postseason tournament to their schedules: NCAA women’s wrestling programs to compete at exclusive championship event.
After confirming specifics with WLAG, we were able to share an in-depth look at NCAA milestones—including the development of the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Coalition—in mid-October: NCAA women’s wrestling: Understanding recent milestones.
Formally establishing the NCWWC signals continued momentum in the efforts to bring women’s wrestling into the NCAA as a championship sport. But, while the headline singles out an exclusive championship open to all NCAA programs, it should also call to mind the approaching January vote that will determine whether or not women’s wrestling will be assigned emerging sport status for August 1, 2020.
That vote is scheduled for the third week in January (logistics tbd). Division I and Division II committees will vote on the recommendation made in June, 2019, by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics.
We can personally influence the vote by sending a few emails—WLAG even has some pre-written templates on their website. If your state doesn’t have sanctioned girls wrestling, find info here. If there is a college near you that you’d like to see add a women’s wrestling program you can use the template created for contacting DI athletic directors, here.
The NCWWC is the closet version of a championship for NCAA women’s wrestling until the sport reaches emerging sport or championship status and moves under the NCAA’s umbrella. If the January vote is favorable across divisions, the NCWWC could potentially exist for just one year—2020.
NCAA Programs: Current List
NWCA NCAA Coaches Poll Rankings: Individual, Team
Update: Division I will vote on emerging sport status in April 2020.
Transition Wrestling is an independent women’s wrestling news publication.
