High school · New York
New York high school girls' wrestling
NYSPHSAA has crowned girls' state champions in New York since 2025. 1,971 girls wrestled here in 2025-26, at 242 schools.
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 3, 2026
The association
Sanctioned
- Association
- NYSPHSAA
- Girls' championship
- Yes, first held in 2025
- Format
- A separate girls' championship, its own event
- Source
- nysphsaa.org, read 2026-09-03
What the record shows
New York is later than the 2023 sanctioning date suggests. The NYSPHSAA ran a statewide girls invitational at SRC Arena in Syracuse in 2023 and 2024 and was approved to establish a formal state tournament only after the 2024 invitational, so the first championship was 2025. The weight class set is null on purpose: the NYSPHSAA runs 13 girls classes, but the set is the 12 class set plus a 94, which matches none of the three NFHS sets. Weight classes re-read 2026-09-20: The girls page still labels its Rules Guide Sheet 25-26 and the PDF would not download. The 2026 championship page lists thirteen champions from 94 to 235, the NFHS 12 set plus a 94 class, so the set stays null. Weight classes re-read 2026-09-22: no 2026-27 document found on nysphsaa.org/sports/girlswrestling as of 2026-09-22; the Rules Guide Sheet link is still labeled 25-26.
The 2026-27 New York championship carries the dates, the venue, and the qualifying path.
How many girls wrestle in New York
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 529 more girls than 2024-25, up 36.7 percent.
Weight classes
NYSPHSAA publishes a girls' list of its own, 13 classes, and it matches none of the three NFHS sets: it is the 12-class set plus 94. Here it is as the NYSPHSAA's 2025-26 document prints it.
- 94
- 100
- 107
- 114
- 120
- 126
- 132
- 138
- 145
- 152
- 165
- 185
- 235
Scratch weights, in pounds. Read off NYSPHSAA girls' wrestling championship page, 2026 individual champions on 2026-09-29. That is the 2025-26 list, and the season bulletin your coach has is the final word until the NYSPHSAA posts its 2026-27 list. The weight classes page puts it beside the three NFHS sets.
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 NYSPHSAA decides whether and when it applies.
The NYSPHSAA sets when it applies; see its rules at nysphsaa.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 NYSPHSAA 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 NYSPHSAA weigh-in rules. Ask your coach for the season bulletin.
If she weighs in above her plan
We have not yet read the NYSPHSAA weigh-in rules. Ask your coach for the season bulletin.
What to do if your school has no girls' team
NYSPHSAA publishes a rule for this. As of February 2026 the NYSPHSAA limits eligibility for the girls state championship to female wrestlers who compete solely in girls wrestling events during the regular season, though a girl may practice with boys under the mixed competition rule. Where a district has no team for her gender, a section executive director may waive the representation standard for sectional competition once she has qualified for the state championship.
From s3.amazonaws.com, 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 NYSPHSAA 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 York 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 York wrestler goes from here.
College in the state
8 colleges here sponsor women's wrestling, from the directory built off each school's own athletics staff page.
- ColumbiaNCAA D1
- D'YouvilleNCAA D2
- Alfred StateNCAA D3
- Buffalo StateNCAA D3
- ElmiraNCAA D3
- IthacaNCAA D3
- UticaNCAA D3
- Nassau Community CollegeNJCAA/JUCO
Wrestlers from New York
6 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 NYSPHSAA'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.
Cite this data
Checked
Women's Wrestling Club, "New York girls HS wrestling", https://womenswrestlingclub.com/high-school/ny, checked 2026-09-22.
Linking to it? The HTML:
<a href="https://womenswrestlingclub.com/high-school/ny">New York girls HS wrestling</a>The newsletter
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