Wrestling | 4/20/2023 3:17:00 PM

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 20, 2023) – Texas Woman's wrestling once again cements themselves in the history books.
 
On Thursday, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced women's wrestling as a conference-sponsored sport of which Texas Woman's will be one of the five inaugural members.
 
"I'm happy with the direction women's wrestling is going and very happy to be a part of another first for women's wrestling," TWU Head Coach Randi Miller said.
 
TWU, an associate RMAC member, joins Adams State, Chadron State, Colorado Mesa and Simon Fraser as the first members of RMAC Women's Wrestling, which will begin competition in the 2023-24 academic year.
 
"Today's historic announcement comes at a fitting time as we close out a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX by adding another women's championship," RMAC Commissioner Chris Graham said. "The RMAC leads NCAA Division II in many ways and we are proud to provide the first league championship to women's wrestlers."
 
The RMAC becomes the first NCAA Division II conference to solely sponsor women's wrestling. Currently, 54 NCAA programs reported sponsorship of women's wrestling, 20 of which were members at the Division II level. Since the 2022-23 season, the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) listed 11 Division II athletic departments that will be sponsoring women's wrestling.
 
In 2020-21, the NCAA classified women's wrestling as an "emerging sport", and according to the NCAA, women's wrestling is "nearing the sponsorship threshold required for CWA to consider whether the committee will recommend them to the NCAA governance structure for championship consideration." To be recommended for championships, women's wrestling must be sponsored at the varsity level at at least 40 schools and must meet their sport's minimum competition and participant requirements.
 
As the opportunities for women in sports continue to grow and be celebrated, the addition of women's wrestling in the RMAC aims to fulfill the need for those increased opportunities.
 
"This is a tremendous opportunity for our wrestling student-athletes to be a part of a conference," TWU Director of Athletics Sandee Mott said. "This allows them to be eligible for conference-based awards, both academic and athletic, and any time you can compete for a conference championship it just means a little more.  We look forward to being great members of the RMAC in the sport of women's wrestling."  
 
The five inaugural programs will compete against each other in the regular season, and then will have the opportunity to advance to the National Collegiate Women's Wrestling Championship (NCWWC).
 
During its inaugural season in 2022-23, TWU finished fourth at regionals and five individual Pioneers advanced to nationals.
 
Women's wrestling becomes the 22nd RMAC sponsored sport.