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Collegiate Women's Wrestling

There are 100+ NCAA, NAIA and JUCO institutions that offer women’s wrestling as a varsity sport, contested in the international freestyle discipline. Many of these programs have scholarship and grant opportunities available. The WWF women's director is a great resource to start the conversation regarding college wrestling opportunities.

 

Varsity Women’s Wrestling Programs in Wisconsin
Lakeland University (Plymouth, Wisconsin) | Est. 2018
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (Stevens Point, WI) | Est. 2019
Carthage College (Kenosha, WI) | Est. 2020
Concordia University Wisconsin (Mequon, WI) | Est. 2021

 

History by the NWCA
Women competing in college wrestling was not common until the last two decades, but there have been a few athletes who were part of their men’s college teams and also entered international women’s events. A few of the prominent women who wrestled on their men’s teams included Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann (Lock Haven), Olympic bronze medalist Patricia Miranda (Stanford), Olympian Kelsey Campbell (Arizona State), World medalists Jenny Wong (Lock Haven), Jackie Berube (UW-Lacrosse), Debbie Weiss (Arizona State) and Afsoon Roshanzamir (UC-Davis), World Team members Erin Tomeo (Lock Haven), Lauren Wolfe (Cornell), Jenna Pavlik (Lock Haven) and others.

The first varsity women’s wrestling team was created in the late 1990s at the University of Minnesota-Morris, under its coach Doug Reese. Some of the pioneer programs which added varsity teams in the early years included Missouri Valley College, the University of the Cumberlands, Menlo College, Pacific University and Neosho County CC. Cal-State Bakersfield had a number of talented women competing in the early years. These teams competed against each other and also against Canadian women’s college teams, but a main part of their schedule was participating in USA Wrestling national and international women’s freestyle events.

In 2002, the International Olympic Committee announced that women’s freestyle wrestling had been added to the program of the Olympic Games, with its premier event occurring at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, with four weight class. This announcement helped in the growth and promotion of women’s wrestling at all levels, including the college level.

From Article - National Wrestling Coaches Association - Women's Wrestling History