NFHS reports girls high school wrestling growth in 2004-05, as well as state-by-state statistics for boys and girls
Gary Abbott/USA Wrestling
The National Federation of High School Associations has released information that indicates that girls high school wrestling continues to grow.
In the 2004-05 season, there were 4,334 high school girls competing in wrestling, according the the NFHS survey. This is an increase of 328 girl wrestlers from the previous year. It marked the 15th straight year that the number of girls competing in wrestling has grown on the high school level.
In addition, the survey noted that there were 941 high schools that had girls on their wrestling team in 2004-05, an increase of 133 teams from the previous season.
USA Wrestling believes that there are actually more than 5,000 girls in high school programs, because a total of 19 states did not report any girls. Most of those states have girl wrestlers in high school who are competing in USA Wrestling programs, and have not been counted by the NFHS.
Last week, the NFHS released its survey results, but did not provide specific information on all sports. In the initial release, the statistics indicated that boys wrestling grew during the 2004-05 season, both in terms of number of teams and number of athletes.
For information on boys high school wrestling, visit the following link:
http://themat.com/pressbox/pressdetail.asp?aid=13221
In the newest information, a state-by-state breakdown has been provided for high school wrestling. California had the most boys wrestlers and girls wrestlers in the nation. The top 10 states for boys and girls follows.
Boys Wrestling by state
1. California, 23,318
2. Illinois, 14,874
3. New York, 12, 879
4. Ohio, 12, 853
5. Michigan, 11, 610
6. Minnesota, 8,677
7. Pennsylvania, 8,622
8. New Jersey, 8,455
9. Florida, 8,199
10. Indiana, 7,938
Girls Wrestling by state
1. California, 1,230
2. Texas, 1,153
3. Hawaii, 406
4. Florida, 216
5. Washington, 152
6. Georgia, 147
7. Arizona, 139
8. New Jersey, 84
9. Virginia, 76
10. Massachusetts, 74
* A total of 19 states did not report female wrestlers
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