Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – With more than 100 teams now in Pennsylvania school districts, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) has officially recognized girls wrestling as a high school sport. Beginning this 2023-24 wrestling season the PIAA added girls wrestling to the two dozen sports it already sponsors.
Participation of girls wrestling in Pennsylvania grew by over 80% in the year leading up to the state-wide sponsorship, and more than 400% over the previous five years.
Central Dauphin School District began their wrestling program last year. In all, five girls wrestled in the first season for Central Dauphin, and with a spike in recruitment this year, more than 30 girls are now wrestling with the squad. The girls look forward to competing next to the boys at the Giant Center during the state championships in Hershey this season.
The girls wrestling state championships were previously held in Central Dauphin’s gym. The PIAA will host the historic first girls wrestling championship alongside the boys event at Hershey’s Giant Center in March.
“I’ve been personally putting in a lot of work just with this season being actually official,” Central Dauphin senior Izzy Patti said. “I’ll get real mat time. With states being at the Giant Center, it’s extremely exciting compared to our high school last year. It’s going to be a big level, big area, huge crowd so I’m really excited, looking forward to it.”
“It’s definitely an electric feeling. You go to practice and everyone’s excited,” Central Dauphin senior Maya Landefeld said. “Everyone’s willing to push to the extra step knowing that it’s kind of stepped up this year and we have a chance to go to the Giant Center and wrestling, so I feel everyone’s stepped their game up in the offseason.”
Harrisburg100 