Wrestling is at the heart of Iowa sports, with over 70,000 fans at the state championships and 35 national team titles across three Division I programs. In the past few years, Iowa has become home to women’s wrestling at both the high school level and collegiate levels.

Rightfully so.

Just a year after the NCAA recognized women’s wrestling as a championship sport, the University of Iowa was the first Division I school to start a women’s wrestling program and is now a dominant force in the sport. And at the beginning of this month, Iowa claimed its second national championship.

With this recognition by the NCAA, we could potentially see other Big Ten or Division I schools such as Penn State, Iowa State, or Oklahoma State — all schools with strong men’s wrestling programs — add a women’s program as well.

But to get support at the collegiate level you need a strong base at the high school level. For Iowa, it was easier. In 2023, our state had 2,379 high school girls participating in wrestling, accounting for about 5 percent of female high school wrestlers across the nation.

Women’s wrestling is the fastest-growing sport in the country, and Iowa is one of four states offering both high schools and Division I women’s wrestling. With the UI’s dominance at the national level, Iowans might be inspired to join the growing program at a young age. But we need this excitement throughout the country, especially within Big Ten school states.

Title IX, which prevents discrimination based on sex, has a big impact on college sports. Adding wrestling for women would provide another opportunity for women to play sports at the collegiate level and help colleges act in accordance with Title IX since men’s wrestling and male-only programs already exist.

Wrestling also allows women to participate in a combat sport and redefines what is an acceptable sport for a woman to play. Wrestling helps equip toughness, discipline, and basic self-defense. It also creates opportunities for women to be the first in their families to attend college, as 23 percent of wrestlers in the NCAA are first-generation students.

Just recently, the UI women’s wrestling team coach Clarissa Chun contemplated the program’s future with the House settlement, which is the collective name for settlements regarding the NCAA compensating players for their play.

The university has assured it will keep women’s wrestling, but the settlement has limited the university’s program’s roster and projects the program will receive a much lower revenue than the men’s program.

This could cause other colleges to hesitate to implement their own women’s wrestling programs, which is why it is more important than ever to recognize the importance of women’s wrestling.

If women’s wrestling continues to grow at the high school level and the support for Iowa programs remains, we could see other schools look into starting their own program if the demand is there.

Iowa is a prime example of why women’s wrestling should be expanded both at the high school and collegiate level.