The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s Executive Board on May 21, 2018, voted to include girls wrestling as an emerging sport beginning with the 2018-19 school year. Girls wrestling would take place during the winter and conclude with a bracketed individual championship tournament in conjunction with boys wrestling at its state finals.

With this inclusion, Arizona joins an elite group of less than 10 state associations to offer girls wrestling as a championship event. The number of individual participants per weight class will depend on the number of qualifiers from the regular season tournaments.

“This is a positive move for the AIA and for all the female wrestlers throughout the state. It’s another opportunity for student-athletes to compete, which will also help the sport grow,” said AIA Executive Director David Hines. “Girls wrestling is also becoming an emerging sport at the NCAA level, which means there will be scholarship opportunities.”

The growing number of female wrestlers within the state that participate in USA Wrestling youth programs was a main factor for the Executive Board to vote in favor of this initiative.