Women's Wrestling now a PSAC Championship sport

[iupgroundhog]

The PSAC has announced the addition of Women's Wrestling as the 24th championship sport for the conference, beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The teams will be ESU, LHU, Edinboro, Gannon, UPJ along with associate members D' Youville (Buffalo, NY) and Felician (Lodi and Rutherford, NJ). Lackawanna will be a member when they become official member of the conference. The schools will have a round-robin dual meet schedule with the team with the best record named as conference champion.

[Ship69]

The PSAC has announced the addition of Women's Wrestling as the 24th championship sport for the conference, beginning in the 2026-27 school year. The teams will be ESU, LHU, Edinboro, Gannon, UPJ along with associate members D' Youville (Buffalo, NY) and Felician (Lodi and Rutherford, NJ). Lackawanna will be a member when they become official member of the conference. The schools will have a round-robin dual meet schedule with the team with the best record named as conference champion.

So you'll have a sport with only three PASSHE members actually involved. Interesting.

[IUPNation]

So you'll have a sport with only three PASSHE members actually involved. Interesting.

But 5 conference members…

[iupgroundhog]

So you'll have a sport with only three PASSHE members actually involved. Interesting.

I think other schools will start programs, most likely Bloom and Clarion. Maybe more.

It is an interesting mix. The sport itself started with Canadian schools leading the way and other small programs. Now big schools ,e.g. Big 10, are starting up programs.

Girls Wrestling is the fastest growing high school sport.

[Tdobson]

Any chance IUP joins?

Also, if they start this, any chance, they restart mens wrestling?

[Ship69]

I think other schools will start programs, most likely Bloom and Clarion. Maybe more.

It is an interesting mix. The sport itself started with Canadian schools leading the way and other small programs. Now big schools ,e.g. Big 10, are starting up programs.

Girls Wrestling is the fastest growing high school sport.

It's fast growing at the high school level, but it's also another sport you would have to fund at the college level, and I doubt it would bring in serious revenue at the D2 level. There already are 20 sports at Ship, 11 of them women's sports due to the football effect, and what I hear is that some of them aren't funded anything close to full D2 levels as it is. Would we really want want another underfunded sport? Would we want 12 women's sports to nine for men and at what point does that get a little out of whack?

I'm not against having women's wrestling, but just wonder if it's a good fit for every school. I guess we're about to find out.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Any chance IUP joins?

Also, if they start this, any chance, they restart mens wrestling?

None

[iupgroundhog]

It's fast growing at the high school level, but it's also another sport you would have to fund at the college level, and I doubt it would bring in serious revenue at the D2 level. There already are 20 sports at Ship, 11 of them women's sports due to the football effect, and what I hear is that some of them aren't funded anything close to full D2 levels as it is. Would we really want want another underfunded sport? Would we want 12 women's sports to nine for men and at what point does that get a little out of whack?

I'm not against having women's wrestling, but just wonder if it's a good fit for every school. I guess we're about to find out.

I'm not going to pretend to know the answers to these questions. I think the supply will create the demand to some extent. There will have to be a next level for women to compete after HS. The other thing, of course, is that it can help a school's Title IX allocation.

As for the financial model, the conference circuit is going to help the existing programs. A relatively short jaunt to conference schools (with a full team) is less expensive than going to far-flung tournaments. It also adds structure where there wasn't much before.

[TheBigCat2192]

If there’s anything our schools need it’s even more women. Gotta get the ratio up to 60:40 or higher, I guess?

[Fightingscot82]

If there’s anything our schools need it’s even more women. Gotta get the ratio up to 60:40 or higher, I guess?

Most already are, especially considering men are twice as likely to drop out.

[Tdobson]

If there’s anything our schools need it’s even more women. Gotta get the ratio up to 60:40 or higher, I guess?

What are the ratios now?

[Fightingscot82]

What are the ratios now?

Just about every PASSHE campus is 55-65% women.

It's usually only reported for fall semester. IUP was 62-38.

[Ship69]

Just about every PASSHE campus is 55-65% women.

It's usually only reported for fall semester. IUP was 62-38.

Many, many years ago when I was attending Ship, most of what became the PASSHE schools had a large majority of women as they were basically teachers' colleges at the time. Ship actually tried to engineer the ration so we were closer to a 50-50 mix. No way they'd get away with that now. Sports weren't really a concern then as field hockey, basketball, and tennis were about the only women's sports we had at that time. Sadly, the ratios now are largely the result of young men underperforming in school. I serve on a couple of scholarship committees, and the applications we get are about 3-1 in favor of girls. Four of our five slots went to girls this year, and the lone boy was something of a sympathy vote.

I have to wonder if it would really throw the Title 9 rations out of whack if there was another men's sport such as golf or tennis added at some schools. The number of athletes are relatively small, and the expenses for these programs are basically travel. Most players would already have their own equipment, and elaborate uniforms are not needed. And these are sports you actually can enjoy later in life. I'm 79 and just played golf this week. My Dad played his last round at 87. You're not doing football, basketball, and baseball at that age. Many people play tennis well into middle age, and I'm wondering if we'll see pickleball teams someday, given the growth of that.

[Fightingscot82]

PASSHE wide, it is 61% female to 39% male. Individual schools:

Cheyney: 68% female
Commonwealth: 61% female
East Stroudsburg: 59% female
Indiana: 62% female
Kutztown: 60% female
Millersville: 62% female
Penn West: 66% female
Shippensburg: 55% female
Slippery Rock: 58% female
West Chester: 60% female

Two huge factors in this: our schools better known programs tend to be related to majority women job fields: arts, education, human services, nursing, social work, etc. and our core demographic of working and middle class Pennsylvanians have the lowest opinion of the value of a college education. If not for athletics, I imagine PASSHE would be closer to 75% women. Men are less likely to go to college, most notably due to male-dominated alternatives like trades and military.

A third factor I mentioned before is that women are more likely to stay in school and graduate than men. Women are also less likely to transfer to another college. System wide, female freshmen return for their sophomore year at a rate 2.5 points higher than men. By senior year, the gap widens to 5.2 points. The really shocking difference is in completion (which students actually graduate from the same school as their freshman year). System wide, women out-graduate men in 4 years by a staggering 13.2 points and less than half of freshmen men will graduate from the same PASSHE school in 4 years. We all know that graduating in 4 years takes some luck, determination, good scheduling, and financial security. But going out to 6 years to accommodate those who had to take time off or changed their major, the gap shrinks to a still large 9.6 points and even then, a bare majority (51.2%) of men graduated from the same school within 6 years of when they started.

[Ship69]

PASSHE wide, it is 61% female to 39% male. Individual schools:

Cheyney: 68% female
Commonwealth: 61% female
East Stroudsburg: 59% female
Indiana: 62% female
Kutztown: 60% female
Millersville: 62% female
Penn West: 66% female
Shippensburg: 55% female
Slippery Rock: 58% female
West Chester: 60% female

Two huge factors in this: our schools better known programs tend to be related to majority women job fields: arts, education, human services, nursing, social work, etc. and our core demographic of working and middle class Pennsylvanians have the lowest opinion of the value of a college education. If not for athletics, I imagine PASSHE would be closer to 75% women. Men are less likely to go to college, most notably due to male-dominated alternatives like trades and military.

A third factor I mentioned before is that women are more likely to stay in school and graduate than men. Women are also less likely to transfer to another college. System wide, female freshmen return for their sophomore year at a rate 2.5 points higher than men. By senior year, the gap widens to 5.2 points. The really shocking difference is in completion (which students actually graduate from the same school as their freshman year). System wide, women out-graduate men in 4 years by a staggering 13.2 points and less than half of freshmen men will graduate from the same PASSHE school in 4 years. We all know that graduating in 4 years takes some luck, determination, good scheduling, and financial security. But going out to 6 years to accommodate those who had to take time off or changed their major, the gap shrinks to a still large 9.6 points and even then, a bare majority (51.2%) of men graduated from the same school within 6 years of when they started.

Actually most of our schools aren't that far from the norm as about 58 percent of college students nationally are women. The lengthy times for completion are a sign of our current situation. Four years used to be the norm for most. And unfortunately we seem to be returning to attitudes among young men, especially in low-income areas, that being smart in school isn't cool or worth the effort. That's OK if there are enough manufacturing or trade jobs to provide for their futures. If not, it won't do a lot for social stability in the future.