PIAA approves girls’ wrestling as a sanctioned high school varsity sport in historic unanimous vote

The long-awaited sanctioning of girls’ wrestling as a varsity sport in Pennsylvania finally came on Wednesday when the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association gave its unanimous approval.

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Girls’ wrestling will officially debut under the state’s varsity banner in the 2023-24 winter sports season and the PIAA will host a championship in 2024.

The path to official approval was paved in February when Pennridge High School and Perkiomen Valley High School became the 100th and 101st schools to offer girls’ wrestling.

The state’s Elite Sports Association requires at least 100 schools to sanction a sport before it can consider sanctioning a state championship.

Efforts to sanction girls’ wrestling have been spearheaded by SanctionPA, a nonprofit dedicated to educating and promoting the sport and providing districts with the tools they need to sanction teams.

Of the 111 currently accredited teams, 32 are within the boundaries of District 3. The full list of accredited girls’ wrestling schools can be found here.

Girls’ wrestling at Mid-Penn Conference schools is picking up steam, particularly at Cumberland Valley High School, which has more than 40 girls represented.

Carlisle is another MPC school district that saw good participation in girls’ wrestling last winter season.

Other MPC schools with recognized girls’ wrestling programs include Big Spring, Camp Hill, Boiling Springs, Mechanicsburg, Gettysburg, Palmyra, and State College.

Wrestlers Katelyn Coldren from Carlisle and Faith Warner from Big Spring were among the 2023 female nominees for the John Travers Award.

The scholarship award, named for the late executive sports editor of The Patriot-News, combines athletic excellence with dedicated classroom work and community service.

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