High school · Illinois
Illinois high school girls' wrestling
IHSA has crowned girls' state champions in Illinois since 2022. 3,396 girls wrestled here in 2025-26, at 378 schools.
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 3, 2026
The association
Sanctioned
- Association
- IHSA
- Girls' championship
- Yes, first held in 2022
- Format
- A separate girls' championship, its own event
- Source
- ihsa.org, read 2026-09-03
What the record shows
The first IHSA girls state finals were held February 25 and 26, 2022 at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. IHSA lists dozens of approved girls wrestling cooperative teams. Weight classes re-read 2026-09-22: no IHSA document listing girls classes found on https://www.ihsa.org/sports/girls-wrestling as of 2026-09-22; the page shows only the 2026-27 body fat tester renewal and season dates. The individual state qualifiers page this row cites is labeled 2026-27 by the site's season selector but lists the February 2026 qualifiers, 16 in each of the 14 NFHS girls classes (100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 155, 170, 190, 235), so the set is dated 2025-26. Weigh-in rules read 2026-09-22 from the IHSA 2024-25 Weight Control Program, the newest edition that can be read: the IHSA site no longer posts it (its old address returns 404 and the girls' wrestling resources list carries only a data worksheet), so the link is the Internet Archive copy of the IHSA's own PDF. It still says 12 percent for females.
The 2026-27 Illinois championship carries the dates, the venue, and the qualifying path.
How many girls wrestle in Illinois
The NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, girls' wrestling column. Every number here is the survey's own; nothing is estimated or carried forward.
That is 718 more girls than 2024-25, up 26.8 percent.
Weight classes
IHSA uses the NFHS 14 class girls' set. The NFHS offers three, and a state association picks one and cannot switch mid-season. That is the 2025-26 set. As of 2026-09-22 IHSA had not posted its 2026-27 classes; states re-pick among the three sets each year, so the season bulletin your coach has is the final word until it does.
- 100
- 105
- 110
- 115
- 120
- 125
- 130
- 135
- 140
- 145
- 155
- 170
- 190
- 235
Scratch weights, in pounds. The NFHS book lets 2 pounds be added to each class after certification as a growth allowance (4-4-4), and the IHSA decides whether and when it applies, so a bracket later in the season may read 2 pounds higher than this. Read off ihsa.org on 2026-09-22. The weight classes page puts this beside the NCAA, NAIA and international weights.
Growth allowance
The NFHS book says a growth allowance of 2 pounds "may be added to each weight class any time after the date of certification" (4-4-4). The IHSA decides whether and when it applies.
“After December 25th, a wrestler may only get growth allowance for the lowest weight class that he/she has made scratch weight at or one weight class above that scratch weight.”
From web.archive.org, the 2024-25 document, read 2026-09-29.
Consecutive-day allowance
On consecutive days of team competition, the NFHS book grants every wrestler 1 pound a day, up to 2 pounds, when the opponent has been given at least 48 hours' notice (4-5-5). The IHSA decides whether and when it applies and can add conditions of its own; what its documents say is below.
A consecutive-day allowance exists; the document names no amount. The IHSA document names no amount. It says only when the allowance may be used: not until she has made scratch weight at that class.
“A wrestler may not take consecutive day weight allowance at any time during the year until he/she has made scratch weight at that weight class.”
From web.archive.org, the 2024-25 document, read 2026-09-22.
If she weighs in above her plan
She may not weigh in more than one class above the lowest class she has ever weighed in at. If she does, the class one above that lowest class becomes her floor for the rest of the season.
“C) A wrestler may not weigh in more than one weight class above the certified weight class that he/she has ever weighed in at. If the wrestler does weigh in higher than one weight class above the lowest weight, he/she has weighed in at, then the weight class that is one weight class above his lowest weight class becomes the lowest weight that the wrestler can wrestle for the remainder of the season. I.e., A wrestler weighs in at 136 for the 138-weight class and wrestles, then that wrestler may weigh in the next time at 138 or 145. Two weeks later the same wrestler weighs in at 131 for the 132-pound weight class. The same wrestler may now only weigh in at 132 or 138 for the remainder of the year. If this same wrestler weighs in at the 145 lb. weight class anytime during the remainder of the year, this wrestler would not be allowed to weigh in below the 138-pound weight class for the remainder of that year.”
From web.archive.org, the 2024-25 document, read 2026-09-22.
What to do if your school has no girls' team
IHSA publishes a rule for this. IHSA runs both a boys and a girls wrestling state series. A girl at a school with only a boys team wrestles on that boys team in the regular season, and her school may enter her in either the boys state series, which requires a state Letter of Verification under the IHSA affirmative action policy, or the girls state series, but never both. Two or more member schools may also form an approved cooperative team.
From ihsa.org, read 2026-09-03. The rule is the association's to change; the link goes to the page that will carry the change.
The general path, in the order that works: ask the athletic director first, in writing, whether the school will enter you and under what rule. Most schools have never been asked, and the answer to a written question goes on the record in a way a hallway conversation does not. If the school will not enter you, ask IHSA directly what a student in your position may do; associations answer these, and the answer is the one that binds your school.
Train while you sort it out. A club room is where most girls in a state without a school team actually wrestle, and club season runs when the school season does not. The clubs in Illinois are listed by city, with the girls' rooms and girls' practices flagged where the club says so.
Where it goes next
The state final is not the end of the line. These are the two places a Illinois wrestler goes from here.
College in the state
10 colleges here sponsor women's wrestling, from the directory built off each school's own athletics staff page.
- McKendreeNCAA D2
- QuincyNCAA D2
- Augustana (IL)NCAA D3
- AuroraNCAA D3
- ElmhurstNCAA D3
- EurekaNCAA D3
- Illinois WesleyanNCAA D3
- MillikinNCAA D3
and 2 more
Wrestlers from Illinois
9 women in the record we keep grew up here. Their careers started in a room like the one down the road.
Before the season starts
A girl's legal minimum wrestling weight is built on the 19 percent body fat floor the NFHS sets for girls, not the boys' 7 percent. That is roughly sixteen pounds of difference for a fifteen year old, and every app built on the boys' number gets it wrong. How making weight works covers certification and what your state enforces at the scale, and when wrestling season starts has the year month by month and the first practice dates we have read off the associations' own pages.
This page was read on 2026-09-03, off IHSA's own pages and the NFHS participation survey, and parts of it were re-read since, most recently on 2026-09-29. Associations change rules in the spring and post the new ones late; the links here go to the page that will carry the change first.
Cite this data
Checked
Women's Wrestling Club, "Illinois girls HS wrestling", https://womenswrestlingclub.com/high-school/il, checked 2026-09-29.
Linking to it? The HTML:
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