UW Oshkosh adding Women's Wrestling

[TomM]

"Exciting news from Wisconsin as the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh has announced it is adding women's wrestling, becoming the second school in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to add the sport."

https://uwoshkoshtitans.com/general/2022-23/releases/20230503h38qvn

UW-Oshkosh Athletics To Add Women's Wrestling
OSHKOSH, Wis.—The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is adding women's wrestling to its athletic roster, becoming the second school in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to add the sport.

Women's wrestling will be the 20th sport added to the Titans' lineup, which includes several national championships in the last five years and repeated appearances at NCAA events.  This is the first sport to be added to the Titans' roster since women's golf was added in the 1996-97 season.

During the 2022-23 season, the Titans sent two wrestlers to the NCAA tournament and claimed the 125 and 197 weight class crowns at the conference tournament.

Women's wrestling is an emerging sport in the NCAA Division III landscape, with several schools in the region adding the sport to their athletic roster. Programs in the state of Wisconsin that have women's wrestling include Carthage College, Lakeland University, and UW-Stevens Point.

"Titan Athletics is excited to add this new program to our department and looks forward to helping women wrestlers reach the highest level of success," said Assistant Chancellor, Athletics Darryl Sims. "We are thrilled to grow our Titan family and give more opportunities for women to compete against the best and receive a world class education."

"As Titans, we have always strived to sustain a level of excellence and a tradition of competing at the highest level," said Chancellor Andrew Leavitt. "This university's student-athletes also continue to be among the highest-performing Titans academically. So, it is incredibly exciting on multiple levels to provide another rewarding opportunity, experience, and big step forward for Titan Athletics through which more students will choose and thrive at UWO."

Women's wrestling was recognized as an emerging sport by the NCAA in 2020.

The National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) executive committee announced in March that over 40 existing programs had met all the divisional rules. With those rules met, the NCWWC announced that women's wrestling will be considered an NCAA Championship sport.

"As the Head Coach and an alumnus of UW-Oshkosh Wrestling, I am thrilled about the addition of Women's Wrestling for our program," said Aaron Konitzer, Head Men's Wrestling coach. "I would like to thank our administration for their commitment to growing the sport and giving more opportunities for women to compete at the collegiate level, while receiving a great education here in Oshkosh. It's an exciting time for Titan Wrestling!"

The NCAA teams presently compete in the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) which serves as the National Championship for all NCAA schools.

A national search will begin immediately for a head coach. 

The Titans will have their inaugural season in 2024-25.

Team USA Announcement on Women's Wrestling: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/March/02/NCAA-womens-wrestling-eclipses-40-teams