Penn Hills officially sponsors girls wrestling, taking 1st step toward creating a team

By: Josh Rizzo
Sunday, January 8, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Penn Hills isn’t ready just yet to field a high school girls wrestling team.

But Indians athletic director Steph Strauss wants the district to be ready for when the day comes, so Penn Hills became the 78th school in Pennsylvania to sponsor a girls varsity wrestling team.

One hundred schools need to sponsor a sport before the PIAA will hold a sanctioned state championship in the event. Currently, Pennsylvania has 90 schools that have sponsored girls wrestling.

Canon-McMillan, Connellsville, Kiski Area, Pine-Richland and North Allegheny, among others in the WPIAL, have sponsored the sport. According to Sanction PA, a group that has advocated to sponsor girls wrestling in Pennsylvania, there have been 531 participants in grades seven to eight and 1,039 participants for high school athletes during the 2022-23 school year.

Those numbers mark a 196% and 240% increase in those two age ranges over the previous year.

Strauss said Penn Hills had a few girls sign up that were interested, but they didn’t have anyone committed to starting this season.

“We’re getting onboard,” Strauss said. “It’s always good to have more opportunities.”

Penn Hills has been making a major push within athletics to drive participation. Strauss said the school came up with a Try Sport pin for varsity jackets in the past four years. Any athlete lettering in at least three sports is eligible to win.

“We’ve had athletes that have said they are just going to do a sport to get the pin,” Strauss said. “College coaches also like multi-sport athletes, and getting kids who can do multiple sports will help them get recruited.”

The Penn Hills boys wrestling team saw a big spike in numbers this season. The Indians went from five to 17 athletes, due to a big push from football coach Charles Morris. Strauss said she was glad to see the rise in wrestlers after the covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted participation.

“During covid, we had a few people that were hesitant to try a sport like wrestling because of how intimate a sport wrestling is,” Strauss said.

Tags: Penn Hills