Girls wrestling: Finally considered a sanctioned sport for KY

Highlands+Girls+wrestlers+freshman+Laila+Pinkston%2C++junior+Emily+Heilman%2C+senior+Angelica+Jackson%2C+along+with+middle+schoolers+Abigail+Berling%2C+and+Aaliyah+Haretuku+line+up+for+a+photo+after+a+long+day+of+wrestling.

Abigail Hudson

Highlands Girls wrestlers freshman Laila Pinkston, junior Emily Heilman, senior Angelica Jackson, along with middle schoolers Abigail Berling, and Aaliyah Haretuku line up for a photo after a long day of wrestling.

Yesterday, Girls’ wrestling was officially considered a sanctioned sport for Kentucky. Wrestling may not seem like a very popular sport, however, the popularity of the sport has been wildly spreading throughout the past few years. Even more so for girls than one would expect.

Having girls wrestling now a sanctioned sport will surely help the spread of support for both girls’ and boys’ teams.

Senior Angelica Jackson believes that no longer having to be a coed sport will bring in more people to try out the sport.

“I’m really excited for all my peers and underclassman. I think it’ll continue to grow more because that was a big reason why people wouldn’t do wrestling because it was coed and girls didn’t wanna have to wrestle guys (vise-versa).”

Girls’ wrestling being a sanctioned sport will be in effect for the 2023-24 school year. The KHSAA Commissioner has now been tasked to finalize the logistics for a state championship, as well as two to four state-mandated websites.