ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Northwestern College has announced that it will add women’s wrestling as its 23rd varsity sport, beginning competition in the fall of 2026.
“I’m excited to announce the addition of women’s wrestling as a varsity sport at Northwestern College,” said Vice President for Athletics Tony Hoops. “Throughout the past two years we have done extensive research regarding the rapid growth of the sport regionally and nationally. Strategically, women’s wrestling enables Northwestern to add a women’s sport featuring a competitive roster guided by a strong Christian leader that will lead a program reflecting our mission.”
The NAIA added women’s wrestling as an invitational sport in 2018-19 and became a championship sport in 2022-23. National championships are held annually in Park City, Kansas. 43 NAIA schools currently sponsor women’s wrestling as a varsity sport.
In 2024-25, the GPAC became the sixth NAIA conference to sponsor women’s wrestling. Northwestern will become the seventh GPAC school to offer the sport, joining Morningside, Hastings, Doane, Midland, Waldorf, and Dakota Wesleyan.
“I am excited that Northwestern is willing to take this step forward and invest in our sport’s young women,” men’s wrestling head coach Rik Dahl said. “I believe that Northwestern is uniquely situated to build a quality program in a region and state that has seen girl’s wrestling explode in recent years. With our college and department’s commitment to excellence and our distinct commitment to faith and developing the whole person, I am confident we can attract some quality candidates and promising women wrestlers to Orange City!”
Girls’ and women’s wrestling is growing exponentially across the United States. At the high school level, 45 states sanction the sport and women’s wrestling is also set to become a championship-level NCAA sport in 2026. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the number of high school girls’ teams quadrupled nationally and over 60,000 girls compete nationwide.
Locally, 31 high school conferences sponsor the sport in Iowa. The MOC-Floyd Valley High School girls’ wrestling team saw 14 athletes participate in 2024-25.
“Adding additional sports at Northwestern College will only occur when it makes strategic sense and reflects our Christian mission,” Hoops added. “Currently, we do not anticipate adding any additional sports. We will focus on building nationally competitive programs with roster sizes that retain well and enhance the student-athlete experience.”
A search for the program’s first head coach will begin this spring with recruiting occurring throughout the 2025-2026 year. Northwestern’s first year of competition will be in the 2026-27 season.
