Topics you don’t want to miss from women’s wrestling in April
In the absence of physical wrestling this month there was absolutely no shortage of activity in the wrestling world. Here are the top stories for April’s newsletter.
High School Girls Wrestling
South Dakota and Oklahoma become the latest states to sanction high school girls wrestling. According to an article in the Rapid City Journal (SD), “. . . the board agreed to follow a pattern established in Missouri that provides four weight classes for girls’ wrestling at the state tournament. The sport will be integrated into schools based on interest shown in each school district.” The success story in Missouri helps the conversation in multiple states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Oklahoma’s decision was to add a division for girls at the state tournament during the 2020-21 season.
The NFHS survey ending in 2019 showed that South Dakota only had 36 girls wrestling in high school. With such a low participation rate in comparison to some of the other unsanctioned states, the breakthrough leads to the question, what are other states waiting for? Why are girls still competing against boys in high school?
Arizona girls high school wrestling is sanctioned, but the AIA voted last week that it become a full varsity team sport during the 2020-21 season. The vote passed, and aims to promote likeness to boys wrestling as the AIA works to combine all four boys divisions and the girls division into one state tournament. In Florida this week the FHSAA passed a vote unanimously to endorse sanctioning. The FHSAA Board of Directors will vote in June.
The Alabama High School Athletic Association met last week and passed a vote to sanction three girls tournaments for the upcoming season. Girls in Alabama will be able to compete in these girls-only events as well as with the boys. The task force in Alabama has expressed views that the sanctioning of these three events is a big step forward for the state.
Press: Rapid City Journal | The Oklahoman | Miami Herald | AZ Central | Shelby County Reporter
Two More College Programs
The latest additions for women’s wrestling bring the total number of NAIA programs up to 36 and NCAA programs up to 37.
St. Andrews University in Laurinburg is North Carolina’s second collegiate women’s program. Greensboro College, NCAA Div. III, was the first. Nick Soto will lead the new team at St. Andrews while pulling double duty as head coach of the men’s team as well. Soto is a 2015 graduate from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
In the Mid-West, Augustana is now the fifth active program in the state of Illinois. They’re up alongside McKendree, North Central, Aurora and Lincoln. The NCAA Div. III program at Augustana is located in Rock Island.
Neither North Carolina nor Illinois have sanctioned high school girls wrestling yet. The NFHS survey bookmarked Illinois girls wrestling at 696 high school participants in 2019, but a Facebook post by Illinois Girls Wrestling from January approximated that number to be 853—a number much higher than other states, such as South Dakota, Montana or Missouri, had prior to sanctioning.
Press: St. Andrews | Augustana | Augustana, Aurora and MacMurray are the latest program changes in Illinois
NCAA Div. I Vote on Emerging Sport Status Postponed
The anticipated NCAA Div. I council vote to grant emerging sport status to women’s wrestling has been postponed from this month to a date later this year, tbd. NCAA Div. II and Div. III women’s wrestling will be classified an emerging sport as of August 1, 2020. There are currently 37 NCAA women’s wrestling programs—just 3 programs short of a requirement for championship status.
Indiana Tech and Lourdes Join Mid-South Conference
NAIA conferences are showing continued involvement in the women’s wrestling scene. This year there were four conference championships, two more than any season prior. As the NAIA builds formal infrastructure for women’s wrestling as a championship sport, we should start to see more conferences adding the sport and more member institutions joining. Indiana Tech and Lourdes are set to compete in their first seasons during the 2020-21 academic year. Read the full details, here.
Press: Mid-South Conference | Indiana Tech | Lourdes University
NAIA and NCAA Adjust Standardized Test Score Requirement
The NAIA and NCAA have adjusted their respective eligibility and entrance policies in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
NAIA: “A student that does not have a satisfactory test score can satisfy freshman eligibility standards and become eligible by having at least a 2.000 final high school GPA. The student will receive an eligible determination from the eligibility center. However, any student using this exception will be required to earn at least a 2.000 cumulative collegiate GPA prior to their next season of competition in order to maintain eligibility and compete in that following season. This additional collegiate GPA requirement is required as part of the student’s ability to gain eligibility immediately by use of solely a high school GPA, and is in addition to any applicable continuing eligibility rules that would normally apply.” Read the full details, here.
NCAA: According to a release from ESPN, “Students who expect to graduate from high school in time to enroll in a Division I school this coming academic year will be academically eligible by earning a combined 2.3 grade-point average in the 10 NCAA-approved core courses, with a combined seven in English, math and science prior to the start of their senior year. There is a 2.2 GPA requirement in 10 NCAA-approved core courses for Division II schools.” Read the full details, here.
Community College Nationals Planned for 2021
A group of coaches and administrators met late February to discuss plans for a Community College Women’s Nationals. It would be the first time an exclusive championship event for two-year programs has been established, and it’s tentatively scheduled for February 2021.
As the NAIA and NCAA picked up the sport under their organizational umbrellas, the questions turned into: What about programs at community colleges? Who builds their structure? Do they wrestle folksytle or freestyle?
Two-year programs sit within a number of different organizations: The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC), the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) and the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) to name a few. Programs within these two-year organizations, the NCWA and community colleges across the U.S. and potentially Canada will be invited to the championship event.
Since each of those are their own organizations, varsity sports in the NJCAA have their own championship, CCCAA sports have their own championship, etc. Women’s wrestling isn’t recognized by any of those organizations as a championship sport—that’s why they’ve historically competed with four-year institutions and held membership with the WCWA. This cross-organizational championship for two-year institutions is an event, not a new organization.
Get the full details, here.
Abby Nette Named 2020 Patricia Miranda Medal Recipient
The Open Mat announced this month that Abby Nette (Campbellsville University) was voted the 2020 recipient of the Patricia Miranda Medal. “The Patricia Miranda Medal aims to honor one outstanding athlete from women’s college wrestling who embodies the spirit of the pioneers that came before them.” Abby collected 15 wins this season, finishing her senior year undefeated as a back-to-back WCWA national champion.
The voting panel included four-time WCWA champions Helen Maroulis, Victoria Anthony, Emily Webster and Kayla Miracle. The fifth voting member was 2019 recipient and two-time WCWA champion, Dominique Parrish.
Read the full release by The Open Mat, here.
New College Coaches
NCAA Div. III New Jersey City University grabbed local talent Barry Hart to serve as the women’s assistant coach alongside Head Coach Elena Pirozhkova. Hart comes to the Knights after a tenured career with Beat the Streets New York since 2013. He was named 2019 Beat the Streets Assistant Coach of the Year. The program at NJCU debuts this coming fall semester.
The NCAA Div. III program at Iowa Wesleyan will be led by Head Coach Shawn Contos during their opening season. Contos has experience coaching at both Iowa State and Penn State. Robert Powell, who spent the year recruiting for the Tigers, has moved to coach at New England College.
Press: Iowa Wesleyan | New Jersey City University
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