All images taken at the Women's West Coast Tournament of Champions held in Placer Valley, California | Photos by Chris Mora Photo
The NFHS recently updated its rules for girls’ wrestling and while those included some positive developments (including new guidance around body fat percentages in the interest of athlete health), it was the walkaway line that meant the most: For girls, wrestling is the 12th most popular high school sport.
Think about that for a moment. Girls’ wrestling is just outside the top 10 and with the growth it has shown, it might soon be vaulting into one of those hallowed spots.
The development of the sport at the high school level has been nothing short of phenomenal. According to NFHS, 10 years ago, 11,496 girls were involved in high school wrestling – many competing on boys teams.
In the 2024-2025 school year, there were 74,064 participants in girls wrestling at 8,100 schools. Ten years ago, five states had separate girls wrestling championships; today 40 states offer girls wrestling championships.
In terms of participation, that was a 15 percent jump over the course of only one year, with 1,000 schools adding a girls wrestling program.
In fact, during the 2024-2025 school year, a total of 374,278 students participated in high school wrestling nationwide, including 74,064 girls. The results marked the first time in the survey’s 56-year history that wrestling participation surpassed 370,000 total athletes and 74,000 girls.
Girls, take a bow. Those numbers are so high because of you.
And let’s face it, those female wrestlers are choosing colleges based on the availability of wrestling programs for them — that was the reason women’s wrestling ascended so rapidly through the Emerging Sports for Women program.
In fact, NCAA held its inaugural National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship this past March in Coralville, Iowa. McKendree University was the first team national champion in women's wrestling, besting Iowa for the title.
A total of 10 weight-class champions also made history. NCAA noted that the growth of women's wrestling has been led by Division II and III programs. Many Division II and III conferences were pioneers for the sport and helped spur growth by offering conference championship opportunities.
Here is the divisional breakdown, based on 2025-26 projected sponsorship data:
- Division III: 59% of women's wrestling programs.
- Division II: 35% of women's wrestling programs.
- Division I: 5% of women's wrestling programs.
In 2028, Division III will have its own women's wrestling championships, as voted by the membership this January.
Grand Valley State women's wrestling coach Jake Short noted that without the growth at the high school level, collegiate women’s wrestling would not be possible.
"Women's wrestling continues to have a broad base of interest at the high school level, and more and more young girls want to compete in college. Several DII and DIII schools have added sports programs to help increase enrollment for the student body, and women's wrestling has been an intriguing sport to help achieve that goal," Short said.
Clearly, high school girls are voting with their feet when it comes to college selection, but at the same time, they are looking higher and further with their goals.
"The rise in sponsorship and participation numbers for women's wrestling is yet another proof point of the rapid growth of women's sports. The sport is also a growing Olympic pipeline, helping produce multiple medalists at the 2020 Games," NCAA President Charlie Baker said. "The NCAA is excited to continue investing in the sport to help it grow and provide more opportunities for student-athletes."
How soon might girls’ wrestling vault into the top 10? Hard to say. As of the 2024-2025 High School Athletics Participation Survey, the number 10 spot on the girls’ list, in terms of participant numbers, was lacrosse, with a total of 99,292 participants.
The number 10 spot in terms of numbers of schools offering programs, meanwhile, was swimming & diving, with 8,105 schools.
To move into the top 10, wrestling also would have to overtake the number-11 place holder, girls' golf, with 85,385 participants during the 2024-25 school year.
Wrestling numbers are moving up quickly, with 74,064 girls participating across 8,100 schools. Although the number of participants is not as high as lacrosse (or golf, for that matter), wrestling is thisclose to swimming; a total of five schools are giving swimming & diving programs the edge.
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