The Executive Committee of the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championship (NCWWC) made two big announcements.
The 2025 NCWWC will take place at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa on March 7-8. This will put the national tournament about a mile from the home of the University Iowa Women’s Wrestling team who won the 2024 title in their first year of competition.
Xtream Arena has become a popular host for elite wrestling competition over the last three years and this will certainly add to their reputation.
This tournament will also be a good boost to the local Iowa City economy that supports Iowa Wrestling.
The Executive Committee also announced that there will be a move from six to eight regions to qualify for NCWWC. The top 4 at each region will qualify for NCWWC. With that the NCWWC will grow from 240 wrestlers this season to 320 wrestlers in 2025.
2025 Regionals will be on February 21-23. The process will begin in the upcoming weeks in choosing the eight regional sites.
This past season Iowa competed at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa at the Region V Tournament.
I would like to see Cedar Rapids host a regional this year.
The increase in regionals is due to the explosive growth of women’s wrestling. There will be a total of 96 teams competing in Division I, II, and III women’s wrestling for the 2024-25 season. 23 of those programs will be competing for the first time next season.
Iowa Wrestling won the NCWWC and National Duals title this past season in their first year of competition. I have no doubt that the success of Iowa Wrestling has been a force in the growth of women’s wrestling.
My blog yesterday was about the funding being approved by the NCAA to create an NCAA national championship for Division I, II, and III for women’s wrestling.
I look for a continued increase in women’s college wrestling programs to grow each year. Iowa is the only Power 5 conference member with women’s wrestling. I would like to see that increase as soon as possible.
My one concern is that the NCWWC will once again be on the weekend of Big Tens and all the NCAA qualifying conference tournaments for men’s wrestling. I believe that is a mistake. Find a weekend that the women’s national tournament is the only big event in college wrestling going on.
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
