NSAA approves girls’ wrestling

The Nebraska Schools Activities Association has sanctioned girls’ wrestling for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year.
In 2019 a proposal to sanction the sport fell one vote short. Last year the NSAA recognized girls’ wrestling as an emerging sport.
During their May 19 board meeting, the NSAA board of directors voted 8-0 to fully sanction the sport.
One class of girls’ wrestling championships will be held with the boys’ Classes A, B, C and D championships at CHI Health Center in Omaha in February.
The Nebraska Scholastic Wrestling Coaches Association has sponsored a girls’ state tournament in 2020 and 2021 in York just before the NSAA wrestling championships in February.
In 2020, 37 schools and 115 girls competed. This year 64 schools brought teams and 178 participants.
According to national high federation statistics, girls’ wrestling is the fastest-growing high school sport nationwide on a per-capita basis.
Regionally, Colorado, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas have sanctioned girls’ wrestling, while half the states nationally have sanctioned the sport.
CCS, WP wrestlers
Keirsten Colton and Aurora Griebel have wrestled as freshmen and sophomores for Chase County, as has Tennille Warembourg at Wauneta-Palisade.
Coaches and athletic directors at the schools agree that sanctioning girls’ wrestling is a good thing, but all have questions.
Neither school has heard all the expectations the NSAA has for them.
CCS Head Coach Matt Vlasin hopes there won’t be major changes to practices and tournaments in the first year.
If girls need their own coach and practice time, Vlasin said that will be hard to do for schools like CCS.
Vlasin hopes there will be time to build up programs before the NSAA makes those requirements.
WP Athletic Director Joseph Frecks said the school has been told girls can have the same coach as the boys and can practice in the same area, but they’re not sure if girls and boys can practice against each other.
Troy Hauxwell, CCS Athletic Director, worries there will be too few girls wrestling in western Nebraska for the athletes to get in plenty of opportunities for matches in the next couple years.
Vlasin and Frecks are hoping for girls’ divisions at the boys’ tournament.
Frecks said WP is looking for schools to make up girls’ triangulars and quads, though finding girls in matching weight brackets may be a challenge.
Girls deserve the same opportunity to test themselves and learn, WP Head Coach Danny Schluckebier said.
“It’s a great sport that can teach you tremendous lessons. Once you wrestle everything else in life is easy,” Schluckebier said.
2023-2024 weight classes
Nebraska will follow weight class guidelines put forth by the national high school federation.
The National Federation of State High School Associations has announced boys’ and girls’ weight classes beginning in the 2023-2024 season.
NFHS says these will be the first separate weight classes established for girls in high school wrestling, and it marks the first time that state associations will have a choice in the number of weight classes.
States may select one of three sets of weight classes for each boys and girls—12, 13 or 14 weight classes. NFHS also lists what weights are in the classes.