With the addition of women's wrestling, the KCAC now has a total of 23 varsity sports -- 11 sports for men, and 12 sports for women.
"Following our associate member sport model developed for men's and women's lacrosse, I am pleased to have the collaboration from these five programs coming together for the further development of women's wrestling," said KCAC Commissioner Dr. Scott Crawford. "This effort puts the KCAC and these five programs at the forefront of helping the NAIA take women's wrestling from an emerging sport to an eventual championship sport."
KCAC member schools offering women's wrestling already see the value of providing increased competitive opportunities for more students.
Ottawa University's Athletic Director, Arabie Conner, said, "Over the last two years, women's wrestling has been a great addition to our athletic department sports offerings at OU. We're very pleased to see the growth of the sport at the high school level and regionally with more and more collegiate opportunities for women. Having other regional institutions that sponsor women's wrestling join the KCAC in partnership to enhance the experience for the student-athletes is a great to see."
"Missouri Valley is very excited to be joining the KCAC in its inaugural season of women's wrestling," said Carl Murphree, the school's head wrestling coach. "This is a big step in growing the sport of women's wrestling and we are thankful for the KCAC for taking that important first step."
The KCAC is the second collegiate conference to welcome women's wrestling to its roster of available varsity sports, joining the Mid-South Conference, based in Kentucky, also includes member schools offering varsity women's wrestling, helping to grow the sport within NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).
The news from the KCAC is the latest positive development for the growth of women's collegiate wrestling. Just this past week, Nassau Community College on Long Island, New York and Schreiner University in Texas both announced the addition of women's wrestling programs. Earlier this month, a coalition of amateur wrestling organizations backed specific efforts to get the NCAA to declare women's wrestling as an emerging sport. At least eleven colleges lent their support to the effort, with University of Iowa head coach Tom Brands offering his endorsement.
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