NCAA to begin hosting women’s wrestling national championship meets in 2026

Sacred Heart’s Madison Sandquist and her Pioneers will have an opportunity to compete in a NCAA championship meet beginning in March 2026.  (Photo courtesy Sacred Heart athletics)

Women will get an opportunity to wrestle for a NCAA championship beginning in 2026 after the NCAA added women’s wrestling as its 91st championship sport this week. Division I, II and III each approved the addition at the NCAA’s annual convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

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.

Sacred Heart was the second school in the country to field a Division I team when the Pioneers began wrestling in 2022. In its three years, Sacred Heart has finished in the top 10 of the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) meet twice, including sixth a year ago.

Since 2020, the NCWWC has served as the national championship meet for women’s wrestling. The final NCWWC meet, which includes schools from Division I, II and III, will be in March in Iowa.

“This means so much to women’s wrestling and to women’s sports in general,” said Iowa freshman Kennedy Blades, a 2024 Olympic silver medalist. “It gives women’s wrestling recognition and shows that it is important, not just around the world, but also in our country.

“Since I was a little girl, I dreamed about being an NCAA national wrestling champion. It will fulfill so many little girls’ dreams, including mine,” Blades said.

USA Wrestling, the national governing body for the sport, and organizations such as Wrestle Like a Girl have steadily supported efforts for an NCAA championship in the sport

“Women’s wrestling has been an Olympic sport since 2004 and is the fastest-growing sport for young women in our nation. We thank each of the NCAA institutions which have already added women’s wrestling for their leadership and vision and invite others to consider providing this opportunity,” said Rich Bender, executive director of USA Wrestling. “We celebrate today with all of those within wrestling and college athletics who have worked so hard to make this dream a reality,” Bender said.

The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics oversees the Emerging Sports for Women program and worked with the wrestling organizations throughout the process.

The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics made a recommendation in February that NCAA Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to move women’s wrestling to championship status.

In addition, the NCAA Board of Governors approved $1.7 million in Association-wide funding at its meeting in April to establish the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships.

Before the Committee on Women’s Athletics made its recommendation to move women’s wrestling to championship status, 40 schools had to sponsor the sport at varsity level and meet other competition and participant requirements.

Women’s wrestling, which became an emerging sport in 2020, eclipsed the sponsorship minimum in the 2022-23 academic year. A women’s wrestling committee will now be established to work with NCAA staff on the development of the first championship for winter 2026.

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).

“I think women’s wrestling being elevated to an NCAA championship is a good representation of our hard work — all the blood, sweat and tears that we’ve put into this sport. We have put countless hours into this sport, and we are working just as hard as the men, so it will be really awesome, for women’s sports in general, to see women’s wrestling at the NCAA championship level,” said Madison Avila, a junior All-American at North Central College in Illinois.

“This is a great day for wrestling, for college athletics and, most important, for the athletes who have given so much to pursuing excellence in their sport,” said Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “Many people across our broad sport community came together to make this championship in women’s wrestling a reality – and it’s a testimony to the dedication of all who believe in the power of sport and the necessity of opportunity.”