PIAA sanctions girls wrestling in Pennsylvania, making it the 39th state with a girls state tournament

Graphic courtesy of Sanction PA


The U.S. wrestling community celebrated today after the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletics Association (PIAA) approved girls wrestling as an official sanctioned sport in the state.


The agenda item, on today's PIAA Board of Directors agenda today which was unanimously approved was:
On a third and final reading basis, effective July 1, 2023, a proposal to accept PIAA sponsorship and jurisdiction of girls’ wrestling.


With the big news, Pennsylvania Girls Wrestling celebrated on its twitter @PA_GirlsWrestle with the following

With a unanimous vote at today's PIAA Board of Directors meeting, GIRLS WRESTLING IS OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED IN PENNSYLVANIA! PA WRESTLING FAMILY, WE DID IT!


In order to be eligible for consideration, the state required 100 official high school programs, a milestone which was reached earlier this year through a massive grassroots effort by the Pennsylvania wrestling community. Pennsylvania becomes the 39th state association to create a girls wrestling championships through its state association.

State Associations with Girls Wrestling in alphabetical order (39)

Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming


Media across the Keystone state have already reported on this great news:

Pittsburgh Post Gazette: PIAA votes to sponsor girls wrestling

PennLive: PIAA approves girls wrestling as a sanctioned high school varsity sport, in historic unanimous vote

The Morning Call: It’s unanimous: Girls wrestling becomes a PIAA-sanctioned sport


USA Wrestling, led by its Girls High School Development Committee chaired by Joan Fulp and Andrea Yamamoto, has worked diligently for many years with other wrestling organizations to expand opportunities for high school girls to wrestle.