FHSU Athletics
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The NCAA announced on Friday (Jan. 17) it will add women's wrestling as its 91st championship sport after Divisions I, II and III approved the addition at the Association's annual Convention in Nashville. The first official NCAA Championship will be held in 2026. Women's wrestling now advances from the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program to become a national collegiate championship, featuring female athletes from all three divisions competing against one another.
There were 76 women's wrestling programs at NCAA schools in 2023-24, with projections pointing to an additional 17 programs in 2024-25. More than 1,200 women wrestlers are competing at NCAA schools today. The sport is also diverse. At least 45 percent of the student-athletes competing are of diverse or international backgrounds.
The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics oversees the Emerging Sports for Women program and worked with wrestling organizations throughout the process. "The NCAA's approval of women's wrestling as its 91st championship is a groundbreaking achievement that reflects the continued rise and strength of women's sports," said Ragean Hill, chair of the committee and executive associate athletics director/senior woman administrator at Charlotte.
Women's wrestling is the sixth emerging sport to earn NCAA championship status. Since the emerging sports program was established in 1994, based on a recommendation from the NCAA Gender Equity Task Force, five women's sports have earned NCAA championship status: rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003) and beach volleyball (2015). In the 2023-24 academic year, these sports collectively included nearly 14,000 student-athletes, about 6% of the total student-athletes competing in NCAA women's championship sports, according to the most recent NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates data. Women's wrestling accounted for an additional 1,226 student-athletes in 2023-24.
Fort Hays State University is now in its second year with wrestling as one of it's nine sports for women to compete in at the NCAA level. The current 2024-25 season is the first in which FHSU is competing in events as a team, already making waves with a 7-2 dual record as of January 17 and a few members receiving national recognition in rankings. The FHSU program has grown from 17 members of the initial 2023-24 roster who redshirted and competed in open tournaments unattached, to 28 this year. Fort Hays State is currently the only NCAA school in Kansas with women's wrestling.