High school · New Hampshire
New Hampshire high school girls' wrestling
NHIAA has crowned girls' state champions in New Hampshire since 2023. 104 girls wrestled here in 2025-26, at 33 schools.
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 3, 2026
The association
Sanctioned
- Association
- NHIAA
- Girls' championship
- Yes, first held in 2023
- Format
- A separate girls' championship, its own event
- Source
- nwhof.org, read 2026-09-03
What the record shows
The NHIAA announced the girls championship by memo in November 2022 and held the first one February 25, 2023 at Bedford High School, run alongside the state meet of champions and open to all female wrestlers in the state who were not wrestling in that meet. The NHIAA wrestling page carries almost no documents, so no association source for girls weight limits or an entry rule could be reached. Weight classes re-read 2026-09-20: Row was null. The wrestling by-law is linked from nhiaa.org/about-nhiaa/handbook/ and prints the NFHS 12 class girls set, adopted by council motion in November 2023. The file is labeled 25-26 although it was uploaded August 18, 2026 and the page says highlighted items are this year's changes. Weight classes re-read 2026-09-22: the NHIAA posted the 26-27 wrestling by-law on September 21, 2026 (linked from nhiaa.org/about-nhiaa/handbook/). Section 6 says "The NHIAA will recognize official competition in the following pound weight classes: (CM 11.23)" and its Girls Weight Classes column reads 100, 107, 114, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 165, 185, 235, the NFHS 12 class set, unchanged. The same by-law still prints "7% for males and 12% for females" as the minimum body fat, where NFHS Rule 1-5 now sets 19 for girls. New England sets re-read 2026-09-29: the CIAC's 2025-26 information packet says the other New England states adopted its 13 girls' classes, the 12 plus 285; this by-law prints 12 with no 285. The two documents disagree; this page prints New Hampshire's own.
The 2026-27 New Hampshire championship carries the dates, the venue, and the qualifying path.
How many girls wrestle in New Hampshire
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 8 more girls than 2024-25, up 8.3 percent.
Weight classes
NHIAA uses the NFHS 12 class girls' set for 2026-27. The NFHS offers three, and a state association picks one and cannot switch mid-season.
- 100
- 107
- 114
- 120
- 126
- 132
- 138
- 145
- 152
- 165
- 185
- 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 NHIAA decides whether and when it applies, so a bracket later in the season may read 2 pounds higher than this. Read off assets-rst7.rschooltoday.com 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 NHIAA decides whether and when it applies.
The NHIAA sets when it applies; see its rules at nhiaa.org, or ask your coach for the season bulletin.
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 NHIAA decides whether and when it applies and can add conditions of its own; what its documents say is below.
We have not yet read the NHIAA weigh-in rules. Ask your coach for the season bulletin.
If she weighs in above her plan
We have not yet read the NHIAA weigh-in rules. Ask your coach for the season bulletin.
What to do if your school has no girls' team
We found no published NHIAA rule covering a girl whose school has no girls' team. That is not the same as a ban: ask the school and the association.
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 NHIAA 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 New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire wrestler goes from here.
College in the state
One college here sponsors women's wrestling, from the directory built off each school's own athletics staff page.
- New England CollegeNCAA D3
Wrestlers from New Hampshire
No wrestler in the record names New Hampshire as home yet. The roster grows every week, and it is the same sport in every room.
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 NHIAA's own pages and the NFHS participation survey, and parts of it were re-read since, most recently on 2026-09-22. 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.
In the NHIAA 2026-27 wrestling by-law, Article XXXVIII, Section 4, the girls' floor still reads 12 percent. The NFHS raised it to 19 for 2026-27 (Rules 1-5-1, 1-5-2), and this site and the app compute 19. On certification, the same by-law says "It is mandated that all wrestlers have their body fat measured by a medical professional prior to the first meet." It names no NWCA Optimal Performance Calculator. The two documents disagree, and we found no NHIAA statement saying which floor it applies in 2026-27. Ask your coach before she certifies.
“7% for males and 12% for females is designated as the medically safe, minimum percent body fat for high school wrestlers. Wrestlers shall not certify for a weight class that is below these minimum guidelines.”
From assets-rst7.rschooltoday.com, the 2026-27 document, read 2026-09-22.
Cite this data
Checked
Women's Wrestling Club, "New Hampshire girls HS wrestling", https://womenswrestlingclub.com/high-school/nh, checked 2026-09-22.
Linking to it? The HTML:
<a href="https://womenswrestlingclub.com/high-school/nh">New Hampshire girls HS wrestling</a>The newsletter
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