“This is Penn State: Wrestling Lives Here.”

If you’ve been to a Penn State wrestling match, you’ve seen and heard that slogan many times. Even before the Cael Sanderson era, Pennsylvania and the surrounding states have long been the hotbed of wrestling talent, so much so that the Penn State job was considered a “hidden gem” before Sanderson shocked the world and openly pursued the job in 2009.

Since Sanderson took over as the wrestling team’s head coach, Penn State has been the standard in collegiate wrestling, winning 12 of the last 14 national titles, and is the overwhelming favorite to win a fifth-consecutive national championship later this month in Cleveland.

It’ll be a big weekend in State College with the Big Ten Championships in the Bryce Jordan Center beginning on Saturday, March 7, one of several big conference tournaments that will shape the field for the NCAA Championships in two weeks. But for a different sect of wrestling fans, there’s another huge event going on this weekend.

Beginning on Friday, the first-ever NCAA women’s wrestling tournament will take place in Coralville, Iowa, a landmark event for a burgeoning sport in women’s athletics. Iowa is the heavy favorite to take home the inaugural team crown in an environment that does not yet have many household names.

In fact, only six Division I programs offer the sport: Iowa, Lehigh, Presbyterian, Delaware State, Lindenwood, and Sacred Heart. While these NCAA Championships will feature wrestlers from both Division II and Division III this year, it’s reported that, by 2028, Division III will break off into its own tournament, leaving just the few dozen D-I and D-II schools to compete going forward.

Still, there’s a lot of positive momentum behind the sport, which has been dubbed “the fastest-growing high school sport”. With Pennsylvania promising to be a hotbed for women’s wrestling, the same way it has been for decades for men’s, there exists a massive opportunity for a place that has boldly claimed that “wrestling lives here” for the last decade.

Pat Kraft, it’s time to add women’s wrestling to Penn State as a varsity sport.

Outside of Lehigh and the likes of Edinboro and Lock Haven in Division II, there’s a massive hole in the collegiate women’s wrestling world in the nation’s premier high school wrestling state. According to the Associated Press, the number of women’s high school wrestlers doubled from 2020 to 2024, and there are now 180 high schools sanctioning the sport. Nationally, the number of high schools sponsoring it has quintupled, and the number of girls wrestling has quadrupled. In one year, it increased by a staggering 60%.

People in Pennsylvania love wrestling. Even if the Nittany Lions weren’t the unstoppable powerhouse they’ve been for almost two decades, they’d still pack Rec Hall. With the growing popularity of women’s wrestling and the potential to make Penn State a powerhouse in it as well, the sky is the limit.

It would also generate a positive feedback loop throughout the youth and high school sports scene. Having the premier wrestling power right in the middle of the lead youth wrestling state will inspire further participation in the future.

If wrestling truly lives here, it’s on Penn State to set a standard in college athletics’ newest frontier.