Missouri’s high school wrestling state championships will undergo changes this season, with further changes planned for the future.
After operating as a single class during its first four seasons of competition, the girls postseason now is divided into two classifications, Class 2 and Class 1, based on school enrollment.
“Girls wrestling is growing at an astronomical rate, which is fantastic for Missouri,” Lafayette coach Joe Wier said. “At districts, we had some girls brackets that had above 40 kids, the boys brackets have 16, so we had to split (into two classes).”
The state tournament, which historically has stretched across three days, will be a four-day event this season.
Class 1 girls will join Class 1 and 2 boys on Feb. 22-23 at Mizzou Arena to compete in their state championship tournaments.
Class 2 girls will join Class 3 and 4 boys Feb 24-25 at Mizzou Arena.
“To me, it makes sense,” Wier said. “That’s your normal high school wrestling tournament and what we wrestle all year long — two-day, 16-person brackets.”
Lebanon girls wrestling coach Matt Neely, whose teams have won three of the four girls state titles since the sport was sanctioned for the 2018-19 season, also approves of the new, two-day format.
“I like it,” Neely said. “The COVID year (2020-21) we did a one-day state tournament and that was too much for one day, and the extra weigh-ins for a three-day tournament are hard on the girls’ bodies. I think two days is going to be perfect for them.”
This is the final season Missouri boys and girls wrestlers are scheduled to compete concurrently at the same venue in a state championship setting.
While the boys state tournament will remain at Mizzou Arena through at least the 2028-29 season, the girls tournament will move to a separate venue not yet finalized starting in 2023-24.
“There’s pros and cons,” Neely said. “With both (boys and girls) together, you have a bigger crowd for the finals, but then again, it doesn’t feel like your own sport if you’re with the boys all the time.”
Wier, who coaches both the boys and girls teams at Lafayette, is not eager to separate the two squads at the state tournament.
“I like having the family together,” Wier said. “I know my four-time state champion Faith Cole would have hated this situation. She loved being with the boys and wrestling around with the boys as much as the girls, and our team has traditionally been one big, happy family.”
Although the future state tournament venue has not been finalized for girls wrestling, Wier believes the front-runner is Cable-Dahmer Arena in Independence, which hosted one-day state tournaments for each classification in February 2021 when COVID-19 restrictions prevented a larger, three-day event at Mizzou Arena.
For Neely, grouping the boys and girls together at previous state tournaments was an important launching point for girls wrestling.
“Boys (wrestling) parents and fans showed up and saw that girls can really wrestle,” Neely said. “Having it together really helped people see the legitimacy of female wrestling.”
The Lafayette girls team has placed inside the top four at the state tournament every year. For Wier, the impact of girls wrestling cannot be overstated.
“I think girls wrestling is the best thing to happen to wrestling in the last 50 years,” Wier said. “It builds interest and shows that strong, powerful females are to be celebrated.”
And for Neely, the rapid growth of the sport of girls wrestling makes it capable of standing on its own.
“When we first started, most (schools) couldn’t even field a team, but we’re in our fifth year now, it’s grown a lot, so if it’s time to separate, now is it,” Neely said.