Magic Number 100: Girls' wrestling can now become official sport in Pennsylvania

The milestone has been reached.

Pennridge High School in Bucks County became the 100th school in Pennsylvania to approve a girls' wrestling program Tuesday. That means girls' wrestling is now eligible to be sanctioned as an official sport by the PIAA.

That will allow an official girls' state tournament to be held.

"We’re incredibly emotional from the day we just had," SanctionPA, a nonprofit that has promoted girls' wrestling across the state, posted on Facebook Wednesday. "We would not be here without each of these 100 schools and everyone that was a part of this journey in some way. This is a monumental accomplishment that many felt was impossible but all of you believed in it and together we made it happen. The effort that was put in was historic. We couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this wrestling family."

The PIAA Board of Directors will still need to vote for the organization to take jurisdiction over the sport. It's undetermined when that vote will happen or whether girls' wrestling will be implemented as an official sport next school year (2023-24) or the following (2024-25) since the PIAA is currently in the first year of its two-year competition cycle.

Related:Why does Pennsylvania still not have a girls' state wrestling tournament?

This year's postseason will not be changed. The PIAA wrestling championships (the boys' tournament) will be held March 9 to March 11 at Hershey's Giant Center. The MyHouse PA High School Girls State Championships will be held independently March 12 at Central Dauphin High School.

The independent girls' state championship event has been held since 2018 — first at Gettysburg High School and then at Spooky Nook and Central Dauphin. Hundreds of girls have competed at the event each year.

"The PIAA would like to congratulate those member schools that are sponsoring girls wrestling and supporting their growth," PIAA executive director Dr. Robert Lombardi said in a statement. "We are looking forward to developing a first-class program to highlight these athletes and wish to thank all those involved with Sanction PA for their commitment to this growing sport."

There are 37 state athletic associations that have already recognized girls' wrestling as an official sport. But while Pennsylvania is one of the top wrestling states in the country, the PIAA has not been one of them. The PIAA's reasoning is that its bylaws require 100 schools must sponsor a sport before it can be sanctioned.

Local coaches have long argued that the PIAA's stance actually prevened the sport from becoming sanctioned.

Lancaster's J.P. McCaskey became the first Pennsylvania school to sponsor the sport when its board approved a team in early March 2020. Eight more schools started girls' teams that year, including Gettysburg, which became the first YAIAA school to sponsor the sport. Gettysburg now competes in the Mid-Penn.

Related: York County has its first girls' wrestling team as sport continues to grow in Pennsylvania

The grassroots movement has only grown since then. 54 schools started girls' wrestling teams in 2022 and and 11 already have in 2023.

Spring Grove became the first school in York County to approve a girls' wrestling program this past June. South Western approved its program in July and Dallastown followed in September.

Gettysburg hosted Big Spring in District 3's first girls' wrestling dual meet in January of 2022. Spring Grove and Dallastown both hosted girls' matches this season.

And the movement is still growing past No. 100. Coatesville became school No. 101 on Wednesday.

Pennsylvania schools to sanction girls' wrestling

1. J.P. McCaskey

2. Easton

3. Executive Education Academy

4. North Allegheny

5. Central Mountain

6. Governor Mifflin

7. Annville-Cleona

8. Gettysburg

9. Brandywine Heights

10. Delaware Valley

11. Western Wayne

12. Bald Eagle Area

13. Parkland

14. Exeter Township

15. Souderton

16. Newport

17. Seneca

18. Milton

19. Canon-McMillan

20. Connellsville

21. Hanover Area

22. Honesdale

23. Penn Manor

24. Chestnut Ridge

25. Big Spring

26. Greater Nanticoke

27. Warwick

28. Athens

29. Wallenpaupack

30. Manheim Township

31. Kiski Area

32. Berks Catholic

33. Southmoreland

34. Mercer

35. Palisades

36. Northern Bedford

37. Montgomery

38. Wyomissing

39. Lampeter-Strasburg

40. Bishop McCort

41. Pequea Valley

42. Cumberland Valley

43. Montrose

44. Boyertown

45. Curwensville

46. Palmyra

47. Plum

48. Octarara

49. Reading

50. Fort Cherry

51. Spring Grove

52. Bensalem

53. Harry S. Truman

54. Saegertown

55. South Western

56. General McLane

57. Pine Grove

58. Seneca Valley

59. William Tennent

60. Bethlehem Catholic

61. Dallastown

62. Quakertown

63. Freedom

64. Liberty

65. Hamburg

66. North Penn

67. Laurel

68. Mount Lebanon

69. Donegal

70. Lebanon

71. Schuylkill Valley

72. Moon Township

73. Elizabethtown

74. Burgettstown

75. Hughesville

76. Wilkes-Barre Area

77. Pine-Richland

78. Penn Hills

79. Tamaqua

80. Wilson

81. Hempfield

82. Central Cambria

83. Bedford

84. Hazleton

85. Camp Hill

86. Trinity

87. United

88. Lehighton

89. Pocono Mountain East

90. Pocono Mountain West

91. Boiling Springs

92. Benton

93. Claysburg-Kimmel

94. Mid Valley

95. Sun Valley

96. Philipsburg-Osceola

97. Lancaster Catholic

98. Upper Perkiomen

99. Perkiomen Valley

100. Pennridge

101. Coatesville

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Girls' wrestling can become official sport in Pennsylvania