State College Area High School could have a girls wrestling team starting with the 2023-24 winter season.
The school board will consider a funding request for the team in the 2023-24 budget. If approved, State College would become the the third Centre County school district with a high school girls wrestling program. Bald Eagle Area started its team in 2021 and the Philipsburg-Osceola Area’s school board approved adding the sport last month.
The projected budget needed to support a girls wrestling team is $39,248, according to the proposal from SCASD Athletic Director Chris Weakland. The estimate was based on the budget for the boys wrestling team, Weakland added.
Girls wrestling is among the nation’s fastest growing sports and in Pennsylvania has seen a growth rate of more than 200% in the past several years, according to the proposal.
The PIAA granted girls wrestling emerging sport status and recently the commonwealth surpassed 100 schools that offer the sport. That means it is now eligible for a vote to become an officially sponsored PIAA sport.
Ten female students came out for SCASD’s “Give Girls Wrestling a Shot” night in November, and one has remained to compete with the boys varsity team. No minimum number of wrestlers is required to start a girls team, and half of all of the official girls’ high school wrestling teams in Pennsylvania were formed with one or no girls previously participating in the sport, Weakland wrote.
“National data has suggested that girls are more likely to come out for wrestling once they know they don’t have to wrestle boys,” according to the proposal. “In other words, if you build it, they will come.”
Competitions for girls wrestling in Pennsylvania are mostly in tournaments, but with PIAA sponsorship programs are expected to grow to accommodate full dual meets. In 2022-23 there were more than 20 girls wrestling tournaments in Pennsylvania. A State High team would be able to compete in those tournaments and, Weakland wrote, there are six Mid Penn Conference schools and six more in Centre and surrounding counties against whom dual meets could be scheduled.
A girls wrestling team would advance the district’s goal of providing equitable opportunities to all students, provide an opportunity to girls who might not otherwise compete in a sport and allow students to potentially participate in wrestling at the collegiate level and earn scholarships, Weakland wrote.
“I’m excited about where we are. It took awhile to get to this point but were excited to be here and we appreciate your attention to this,” Weakland told the board. “I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to attend a couple of girls wrestling tournaments this year and to see the courage, the strength, the confidence that these young ladies possess is amazing. As a father of a female athlete, I saw everything it instilled in my daughter. I’m excited to see how this could grow in our community and State College can build this girls program and provide opportunities for young ladies that they currently don’t have.”
Board member Amy Bader noted that a girls wrestling team has been under discussion for years and the proposal is not related to a judge’s recent ruling that the district violated Title IX by not accommodating girls who wanted to play on the middle school co-ed ice hockey club team.
“This is not something new,” Bader said. “This is not a reactionary choice to bring this forward. This has been in the works for quite a long period of time.”
Matt Lackey, a district parent and the women’s wrestling head coach at Lock Haven University, was among those who spoke during public comment in support of forming the team. His daughter Anna, a State High sophomore, is the sole female wrestler on the boys varsity team this year.
Lackey has four daughters, and when they were born he didn’t think wrestling would be an opportunity for them, he said.
“I’ve been able to see the growth and expansion of this sport first-hand and it’s been an incredibly exciting process,” Lackey said.
“I’m excited about the 100 schools we just hit that and I look forward to the PIAA following suit here very soon. I think it’s an incredible opportunity. Wrestling provides so much, and I’m so glad that the ladies have the opportunity to do that now. Grit, hard work, time management, learning to deal with loss — I could go on and on about all the great things that wrestling provides. I hope you vote in favor of this when the time comes to do so.”
