Girls wrestling becomes official PIAA sport as more than 100 schools have added teams

Girls wrestlers throughout the state earned the major decision they worked to pin down for years.

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association unanimously approved sanctioning girls wrestling on a third reading Wednesday at its board meeting, making it an official PIAA sport.

“I’m very excited about it,” said Lake-Lehman’s Lexi Schechterly, a two-time gold medalist in the District 2 Class 2A boys tournament. “It’s a new opportunity. It’s something way different than they’ve ever experienced before. It’s a different type of work. It’s a different type of fitness. It’s a different everything, so just having the ability to try something new is just great.”

The wrestling steering committee also unanimously recommended that the girls state championships be held alongside the boys March 7-9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

“How we get to that point is still to be determined, meaning how athletes will qualify through their districts, potentially regionals and then get to the state tournament,” PIAA chief operating officer Mark Byers said. “But I think it was important for the wrestling steering committee to be on record that they were interested in seeing the girls participate directly alongside the boys at the championships in Hershey.”

The girls state wrestling championships, which have not been sponsored by the PIAA, were held at Central Dauphin High School the last two years the day after the boys championships.

“We’re not interested in holding it separately,” Byers said. “The schedule is still up in the air, but we’ll manipulate the sessions to provide that there will be boys and girls wrestling simultaneously.”

SanctionPA started its campaign in March 2020 to push for 100 schools to add a girls wrestling program, the number needed for the PIAA to consider sanctioning the sport.

It reached that number Feb. 14 when District 1’s Pennridge sanctioned a program.

The PIAA passed the sanctioning of girls wrestling on a first, second and third reading at its next three meetings, making it a PIAA sponsored sport.

“Honestly, it’s surreal,” said Lily Sherer, a three-time girls state champion at Delaware Valley High School and an All-American at Lock Haven University this season. “I think that it’s been a really long time coming and I do really think it should have happened when I was still in high school, but I understand why it didn’t. Honestly, I’m more grateful that the girls that followed me get the opportunity to compete at that level and with the recognition that they deserve.

Since reaching the 100-team threshold, 11 schools added programs over the past three months.

“In line with national trends, we anticipate the girls wrestling participation numbers to increase with the official vote to sanction the sport,” SanctionPA president Brooke Zumas said in a press release. “And it is with great anticipation we look forward to celebrating the very first PIAA sponsored girls wrestling state tournament next year. In just three years, SanctionPA and the schools across the state were able to mobilize and showcase the support for this rapidly growing sport. We look forward to continuing to advocate and support the growth of the sport in the state.”

What’s next?

The PIAA will hold a girls state tournament in one classification in conjunction with the boys Class 2A and 3A championships, but figuring out regional tournaments could be a little tricky. Much like the girls state championships were held one day after the boys at Hershey, the girls regional tournaments were held one day after boys regionals. The boys Class 2A Northeast Regional, which includes Districts 2 and 4, was at Williamsport and the boys Class 3A Northeast Regional, which includes Districts 2, 11 and 12, was at Bethlehem Liberty High School on March 3 and 4. The girls Northeast Regional for Districts 2, 4 and 6 was March 5.

“The state level is still talking about that, starting to figure that out because the teams that will have the same coach for both could be an issue if they have to be at Williamsport or Bethlehem and then the girls are at a different (location),” District 2 wrestling committee chairman Jay Starnes said. “At that point our teams split into 2A and 3A so that creates an issue, too. So we haven’t gotten that far yet.”

Despite 111 schools sponsoring teams, girls wrestling will only have an individual postseason.

“As we grow into having more teams being able to field dual meet teams, I think that’s a natural progression and we’ll get there hopefully sooner rather than later, but that will be based on how the sport grows at the local school level,” Byers said.