Girls wrestling expanding to two classes
May 23—The third sanctioned high school girls wrestling season will look a little different next season.
At its May meeting, the Board of Directors of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union approved the move to two classes for the 2024-25 girls' wrestling season. The move will place the 64 largest wrestling schools into Class 2A, with the remaining schools competing in Class 1A.
Wrestlers will compete to qualify for the state tournament at regional meets across the state on Friday Jan. 31, 2025. There will be eight regional state qualifying sites hosted by schools for both Class 1A and 2A.
The top 16 qualifiers from each weight class will qualify for the 2025 Girls State Wrestling Tournament, which will be held Feb. 6-7 in Xtream Arena in Coralville. The Girls State Wrestling Tournament will remain a two-day tournament, with separate sessions for each class on Feb. 6 and combined sessions for the championship sessions on Friday, Feb. 7.
"The rapid rise of participants in girls wrestling has exceeded even our expectations," said IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich. "Adding a second class is the next building block in our efforts to continue to help the sport grow. The hope is that the addition of a second class will encourage more schools to add girls' wrestling programs."
The IGHSAU sanctioned girls' wrestling in 2022 and has been a one-class tournament since beginning competition in 2023. In 2024, 204 schools sponsored a girls' wrestling program, while 61 other schools were listed in cooperative sharing agreements.
