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Magic Number 100: Girls' wrestling can now become official sport in Pennsylvania

Matt Allibone   York Daily Record

The milestone has been reached.

Pennridge High School in Bucks County became the 100th school in Pennsylvania to approve a girls' wrestling program Tuesday. That means girls' wrestling is now eligible to be sanctioned as an official sport by the PIAA.

That will allow an official girls' state tournament to be held.

"We’re incredibly emotional from the day we just had," SanctionPA, a nonprofit that has promoted girls' wrestling across the state, posted on Facebook Wednesday. "We would not be here without each of these 100 schools and everyone that was a part of this journey in some way. This is a monumental accomplishment that many felt was impossible but all of you believed in it and together we made it happen. The effort that was put in was historic. We couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this wrestling family."

The PIAA Board of Directors will still need to vote for the organization to take jurisdiction over the sport. It's undetermined when that vote will happen or whether girls' wrestling will be implemented as an official sport next school year (2023-24) or the following (2024-25) since the PIAA is currently in the first year of its two-year competition cycle.

Related:Why does Pennsylvania still not have a girls' state wrestling tournament?

This year's postseason will not be changed. The PIAA wrestling championships (the boys' tournament) will be held March 9 to March 11 at Hershey's Giant Center. The MyHouse PA High School Girls State Championships will be held independently March 12 at Central Dauphin High School.

The independent girls' state championship event has been held since 2018 — first at Gettysburg High School and then at Spooky Nook and Central Dauphin. Hundreds of girls have competed at the event each year.

"The PIAA would like to congratulate those member schools that are sponsoring girls wrestling and supporting their growth," PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi said in a statement. "We are looking forward to developing a first-class program to highlight these athletes and wish to thank all those involved with Sanction PA for their commitment to this growing sport."

There are 37 state athletic associations that have already recognized girls' wrestling as an official sport. But while Pennsylvania is one of the top wrestling states in the country, the PIAA has not been one of them. The PIAA's reasoning is that its bylaws require 100 schools must sponsor a sport before it can be sanctioned.

Local coaches have long argued that the PIAA's stance actually prevened the sport from becoming sanctioned.

Lancaster's J.P. McCaskey became the first Pennsylvania school to sponsor the sport when its board approved a team in early March 2020. Eight more schools started girls' teams that year, including Gettysburg, which became the first YAIAA school to sponsor the sport. Gettysburg now competes in the Mid-Penn.

Related: York County has its first girls' wrestling team as sport continues to grow in Pennsylvania

The grassroots movement has only grown since then. 54 schools started girls' wrestling teams in 2022 and and 11 already have in 2023.

Spring Grove became the first school in York County to approve a girls' wrestling program this past June. South Western approved its program in July and Dallastown followed in September.

Gettysburg hosted Big Spring in District 3's first girls' wrestling dual meet in January of 2022. Spring Grove and Dallastown both hosted girls' matches this season.

And the movement is still growing past No. 100. Coatesville became school No. 101 on Wednesday.

Pennsylvania schools to sanction girls' wrestling 

  1. J.P. McCaskey
  2. Easton
  3. Executive Education Academy
  4. North Allegheny
  5. Central Mountain
  6. Governor Mifflin
  7. Annville-Cleona
  8. Gettysburg
  9. Brandywine Heights
  10. Delaware Valley
  11. Western Wayne
  12. Bald Eagle Area
  13. Parkland
  14. Exeter Township
  15. Souderton
  16. Newport
  17. Seneca
  18. Milton
  19. Canon-McMillan
  20. Connellsville
  21. Hanover Area
  22. Honesdale
  23. Penn Manor
  24. Chestnut Ridge
  25. Big Spring
  26. Greater Nanticoke
  27. Warwick
  28. Athens
  29. Wallenpaupack
  30. Manheim Township
  31. Kiski Area
  32. Berks Catholic
  33. Southmoreland
  34. Mercer
  35. Palisades
  36. Northern Bedford
  37. Montgomery
  38. Wyomissing
  39. Lampeter-Strasburg
  40. Bishop McCort
  41. Pequea Valley
  42. Cumberland Valley
  43. Montrose
  44. Boyertown
  45. Curwensville
  46. Palmyra
  47. Plum
  48. Octarara
  49. Reading
  50. Fort Cherry
  51. Spring Grove
  52. Bensalem
  53. Harry S. Truman
  54. Saegertown
  55. South Western
  56. General McLane
  57. Pine Grove
  58. Seneca Valley
  59. William Tennent
  60. Bethlehem Catholic
  61. Dallastown
  62. Quakertown
  63. Freedom
  64. Liberty
  65. Hamburg
  66. North Penn
  67. Laurel
  68. Mount Lebanon
  69. Donegal
  70. Lebanon
  71. Schuylkill Valley
  72. Moon Township
  73. Elizabethtown
  74. Burgettstown
  75. Hughesville
  76. Wilkes-Barre Area
  77. Pine-Richland
  78. Penn Hills
  79. Tamaqua
  80. Wilson
  81. Hempfield
  82. Central Cambria
  83. Bedford
  84. Hazleton
  85. Camp Hill
  86. Trinity
  87. United
  88. Lehighton
  89. Pocono Mountain East
  90. Pocono Mountain West
  91. Boiling Springs
  92. Benton
  93. Claysburg-Kimmel
  94. Mid Valley
  95. Sun Valley
  96. Philipsburg-Osceola
  97. Lancaster Catholic
  98. Upper Perkiomen
  99. Perkiomen Valley
  100. Pennridge
  101. Coatesville

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.

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