Full-scale girls wrestling could soon be sanctioned by NCHSAA
ZACK NALLY Jan 5, 2022
https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/news_times/sports/article_73e94170-6e26-11ec-8fb9-8b9700274f00.htmlMOREHEAD CITY — Like so many sports before it, wrestling could soon be another two-gender, two-team high school athletic program in the state.
Girls are wrestling now more than ever, the result of which could be the first-ever state championship tournament sanctioned by the N.C. High School Athletic Association, either at the end of this season or in 2022-2023.
The next step beyond that could be having a boys and girls league entirely separate, like basketball or soccer, tennis or golf. The NCHSAA held its first invitational wrestling tournament exclusively for female wrestlers in 2019. The event has grown by leaps and bounds, from 81 the first year to 183 in 2020, 261 last spring and 581 eligible wrestlers for 2022.
“I think we’re pretty close,” Croatan coach David Perry said. “The hope for most of the board members is that we will have it next year.”
Perry sits on the N.C. Wrestling Coaches Association Board of Directors with Havelock coach Chase Holleman, who thinks a state-sanctioned tournament is right around the corner.
“The end goal right now is to have a girls state championship tournament in the (Greensboro) Coliseum just like we do for the boys,” Holleman said. “North Carolina is not at the point right now to have full women’s teams for duals. For now, it’s just baby steps.”
In order to sanction a girls state tournament, the organization needed to see 108 member schools dressing at least two girls on the roster.“Based on the information we have gathered,” Holleman said, “we have surpassed that number. So, our plan is to push for it to be sanctioned next year. We worked to get that done before this season and at the last board meeting, but it didn’t happen.”
For now, the state invitational tournament is still a very real opportunity for female wrestlers. Other large tournaments, such as the Tiger Classic in Chapel Hill, WRAL in Raleigh, Holy Angels Invitational in Charlotte and DASH Classic in Pine Forest, also offer girls tournaments alongside the tournament for the boys.
The optics of girls in wrestling in 2021-2022 are certainly different than just a decade ago. Olivia Neal of Rosewood became the first girl to wrestle in the NCHSAA state tournament in 2008. She finished her career with a stunning 105-21 record.
Fast forward to 2020, where Uwharrie Charter’s Heaven Finch became the first girl to win a state wrestling championship. She went 54-4 at 106 pounds one year after becoming the first girl to place at the tournament.
Role models like Finch, and locally, Ariana Wolkerstorfer from West and Brooke Hermel from Havelock, both of whom won state championships in the inaugural invitational tournament, have played a big role in encouraging other girls to take up the sport.
“I think seeing girls have some success against the boys in recent years has definitely played a part,” Perry said.
He acknowledged the burden still shared by adolescent wrestlers of the opposite gender. There is still an undeserved stigma attached for boys who beat or lose to a girl on the mat. The perspective is an outdated one, but nonetheless an obstacle for the sport to grow as a co-ed venture.
Additionally, there is a physical challenge female wrestlers typically face when wrestling males. The distinction in physiques skyrocket between middle and high school.
“I think for most girls, to have equal footing, it’s important that they have a chance to wrestle other girls,” Perry said. “It would be nice to have a sanctioned sport, different than the boys.”
The gear-up towards a sanctioned girls tournament and a potential women’s league on the horizon makes sense considering 2022 is the 50th anniversary of the Title IX legislation.
Nationally, girls participation in wrestling increased from 4,975 in 2005 to 7,351 in 2010 and then to 21,124 in 2019. Data provided by the National Wrestling Coaches Association saw as many as 28,447 participate in 2021.
Since 2018, a group of 25 states have added sanctioned girls wrestling championships, joining the six states – Hawaii, Texas, Washington, California, Alaska and Tennessee – that already offered sanctioned tournaments between 1998-2015.
“If they just offered it as its own sport here, the numbers would blow up more than they already are now,” Holleman said. “It’s like ‘Field of Dreams.’ If you build it, they will come. The numbers in our state have increased tremendously in recent years. It’s time to make it happen.”
At the collegiate level, in September, the University of Iowa became the first Power 5 conference school to add a women’s wrestling program. Only two other Division I schools, Sacred Heart University and Presbyterian College, offer programs.
Across the NCAA, women’s wrestling is labeled an “emerging sport,” with only 13 Division II teams, 22 Division III teams and 36 NAIA teams offering programs. It can become a NCAA Division I championship sport if adopted by 40 schools in the next 10 years.