Women’s Wrestling Postseason Set for NCAA Programs

The Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Coalition has announced the 2021 postseason schedule for the NCAA women’s wrestling programs, including the site and dates for the annual national championships, as well as four regional qualifiers which determine the national field.

The Cliff Keen National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships (NCWWC) will be hosted by Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio on Saturday, March 6. This will be the second annual national championships event for NCAA programs.

Each of the 10 women’s college weight classes will have 16 participants, with four wrestlers advancing to the national tournament from each of four regional qualifiers. This will be the first year in which there will be a regional qualification system for the competition.

All-American awards will be given to the top eight placewinners in each weight class. Team Awards will be given to the top four teams.

Champions from the 2021 NCWWC will qualify to compete in the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Wrestling, which will be held in April.

Women’s wrestling is an NCAA Emerging Sport at all three divisions. The National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships will serve as the national championships for NCAA women’s wrestling programs until the sport qualifies for an official NCAA Championships.

McKendree Univ. (Ill.) is the defending NCWWC team champions. The first NWCWC nationals was hosted at Adrian University in Adrian, Mich. in 2020.

There will be four Regional Qualifiers hosted during the weekend of February 20-21, held in strategic locations across the nation. The 2021 Regional Qualifiers are:
• Northeast Qualifier at Gannon University (Pa.), Saturday Feb. 20
• Southeast Qualifier at Emmanuel College (Ga.), Sunday, Feb. 21
• Southwest Qualifier at McKendree University (Ill.), Sunday, Feb. 21
• Northwest Qualifier at UW-Stevens Point (Wis.), Sunday, Feb. 21

For the NCAA women’s postseason, each team will be composed of up to 15 wrestlers. There will be no more than two wrestlers allowed in each weight class. Team scoring will be based upon one per weight (named in advance).

The competitions will follow specific COVID-19 protocols, following the NCAA COVID guidelines, which includes a testing regime and other safety procedures.

The breakdown of programs for the qualifiers follows (alphabetically):
Northeast – Adrian, Davenport, Delaware Valley, Elmira, Gannon, New Jersey City, Tiffin, Trine
Southeast – Emmanuel, Ferrum, King, Limestone, Presbyterian
Northwest – Augsburg, Carthage, Iowa Wesleyan, Lakeland, North Central, Pacific, UW-Stevens Point
Southwest – Colorado Mesa, Fontebonne, Lindenwood, McKendree, Schreiner, Westminster

“We are extremely excited for the NCAA women’s wrestling post-season. We thank Tiffin University for hosting the NCWWC national tournament this year, and welcome back Cliff Keen Athletic as the presenting sponsor. We applaud the four regional qualifier host universities for their leadership within women’s college wrestling. Although it has been a challenging year for college athletics, we look forward to providing these post-season competition opportunities for the student-athletes and their teams,” said Julia Salata, president of the Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Coalition.