High school wrestling in Texas may not be as big as football but 7,000 high schoolers compete in the sport. But there are no intercollegiate wrestling programs in the state.
Wayland Baptist University in Plainview is changing that. The university will add men's and women's wrestling in 2010 and hopes to be a trend setter in terms of the presence of the sport in Texas colleges and universities.
Interestingly, this article about the additions makes little to-do about how it will most definitely be a trend setter in women's wrestling. Although we have seen other institutions add and consider adding women's wrestling which seems to be a sport on the rise (though the NCAA still has not listed it as an emerging sport!), there are still only 13 intercollegiate women's programs.
I found it somewhat appropriate that a Texas institution is instituting one of the first 20 programs nationwide given the issues the state has had with female wrestlers in the past. [See the excellent documentary Girl Wrestler for more on that.]
