IHSA approves girls state wrestling tournament

There will be a state high school wrestling tournament for the girls next year.

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors approved the tournament structure developed by the IHSA Wrestling Advisory Committee to conduct the first-ever girls state finals at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26, 2022.

“This is an exciting development for the IHSA and for female wrestlers around the state,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “The number of female participants continues to grow, and we are proud to be able to offer an incredible venue and stage to recognize them on. This is an important step for Illinois high school wrestling as a whole.”

Princeton High School coach Steve Amy is excited for his girls and the opportunity and interest state will provide.

“It’s great for the sport and a great opportunity for our girls,” he said. “This is something that has been a long time coming and we are very excited for the future of girls wrestling. We will have four girls returning and hopefully we are able to keep gaining interest and get more out.

“Having a state tournament gives them a goal to work towards instead of just being able to compete in a few tournaments and duals.”

The IHSA Individual Girls Wrestling State Finals will consist of the quarterfinal round and the first two rounds of wrestlebacks being contested on Friday morning and afternoon. The semifinals, consolation rounds and place matches will follow on Saturday morning and afternoon. The event will culminate with a Grand March of the finalists, followed by the state championship matches in 14 different weight classes.

The IHSA previously conducted its Dual Team Wrestling State Finals on this Saturday and will now extend that tournament to two days, running it concurrently with the Individual Girls Wrestling State Finals at Grossinger Motors Arena.

Over 800 girls from IHSA schools were eligible to wrestle during the 2019-20 school year after completing the required testing to determine their weight class. In 2020-21, the IHSA wrestling season ran from April 19 to June 12 as a result of the pandemic and the IHSA was not able to conduct a postseason.

The IHSA Board first approved the formation of the IHSA Individual Girls Wrestling State Finals at their meeting in June 2020 before asking the IHSA Wrestling Advisory Committee to develop the tournament schedule and structure.