UW Oshkosh women’s wrestling will compete as an NCAA sanctioned team starting with the 2025-26 season after all three NCAA divisions voted to add the sport at its annual convention Jan. 17 in Nashville, Tennessee.
“We are thrilled that women’s wrestling will be an NCAA sport, making it the 91st championship that we host,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said at the convention. “We extend a big thank you to everyone who supported this effort and the athletes, coaches and fans for their passion for a fast-growing and exciting sport that brings even more opportunities for women to participate in athletics.”
The decision to add women’s wrestling as an NCAA sport means that the team will transition from National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling (NCWWC) competition after this season. Gymnastics is now the only one of UWO’s 20 intercollegiate sports that is not NCAA-sanctioned.
The 2024-25 season marks UWO’s first year with a women’s wrestling squad, and the Titans own a 2-4 record with only the NCWWC regional and national championships left on the schedule.
Oshkosh’s Myra Bair, who is 4-9 this season, won the first-ever match in the history of the program when she won by injury default in the 103-lb. bout at the UW-Stevens Point Pointer Open Nov. 2. The Titans lost their first two meets of the season, but Audrey Swiderek recorded a 10-0 technical fall against Carthage College to help UWO to its first-ever dual meet victory Nov. 21 against the Firebirds 30-16. Oshkosh beat Northern Michigan University the next week before losing its final two duals to UW-Stevens Point and NMU in the second matchup with the Wildcats.
Annesley Day, who holds a team best 16-6 record on the season with six pins, said that she was thrilled to see the NCAA finally decide to make women’s wrestling an official sport.
“It’s crazy to see how much this sport has grown, and I love having the opportunity to be a part of it,” Day, who wrestles in the 124-lb weight class, said. “This means a lot to me because this will help grow the sport more and the competition will continue to get harder which I love.”
Day, from Round Rock, Texas, said that she thinks UWO’s program will continue to grow and improve now that its athletes will be competing in the NCAA.
“Lots of girls are now going to want to wrestle in college more,” Day said. “They will see the program we have and see that they can be successful here and reach their goals. I think it’s amazing that UWO offers women’s wrestling because not every school does, and I know our program is going to do great things.”
Alivia Davey, one of 15 freshmen on UWO’s roster, said that the university’s decision to participate in the first season of NCAA women’s wrestling follows the inaugural team’s motto of “Be The 1st.”
“It’s pretty big deal since a lot of other colleges don’t have women’s wrestling so UWO gets to be part of that first group before everyone else joins in,” Davey, who is 14-5 this year in the 207-lb weight class, said. “It’s been such a fast-growing sport over the years and it’s great to see that it’s getting accepted so quickly. It means a lot to me because it shows that the sport is growing quickly and that more girls are going out for [women’s wrestling] that may have been on the fence before or are just giving it a shot.”
According to the NCAA, there were 76 women’s wrestling programs at colleges and universities across the country for the 2023-24 season, and 17 more programs were added prior to this year. The governing body also reported that there are currently more than 1,200 women who are wrestling at schools that will be competing at the NCAA level next year.
The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics made a recommendation in February 2024 that NCAA Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to move women’s wrestling to “championship status.” The legislation was not passed, but the NCAA Board of Governors approved $1.7 million in funding that April to establish the NCWWC.
Before the Committee on Women’s Athletics could move women’s wrestling to “championship status”, 40 schools had to sponsor the sport at a varsity level and meet other competition and participant requirements. Although women’s wrestling eclipsed the sponsorship minimum in the 2022-23 academic year, it took until this January for the NCAA to officially grant the sport “championship status.”
UWO Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator Abby Gildernick said that the inclusion of women’s wrestling as the 91st NCAA Championship sport marks a monumental step forward for gender equity in college athletics.
“This milestone not only honors the strength and resilience of female athletes but also sets the stage for future generations to thrive on and off the mat,” Gildernick said. “It’s a victory for athletes, coaches, and fans who have long fought for this recognition and opportunity. The Division III vote passed with an overwhelming majority of 447 yes votes, 0 no votes and only 17 abstentions. This kind of result reflects strong consensus and support for the proposal by the Division III NCAA membership.”
The NCAA’s first women’s wrestling championship will be held in 2026, but UWO will seek its first and only attempt at a NCWWC title when the Titans head to Missouri to take part in the Region VI Championship, hosted by Lindenwood University (Missouri) Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.
