The new women's program will take to the mats for the first time during the 2019-2020 school year. Women's wrestling will the 29th sport at North Central College.
"We're really proud of the fact that, as an institution, we've been able to be a leader in terms of providing competitive opportunities for women," said North Central athletic director Jim Miller. "We've tried to be creative and forward-thinking in how we decide where to expand our department and seeing the tremendous growth of this sport nationwide at the youth and scholastic levels, it made a lot of sense to move forward with women's wrestling. There's no question we have the capacity to provide a top-caliber competitive experience in this sport and we're excited to get started."
As with all women's collegiate programs, the new North Central program will be governed by the rules of the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA), where women wrestle in freestyle competition (compared to folkstyle for men's collegiate wrestling). According to North Central, a total of 45 collegiate institutions will field varsity women's wrestling teams in 2018-2019, an increase of 29 percent over the previous year. Thanks to the growth of women's wrestling at both the high school and collegiate level, the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has applied to add women's wrestling to the NCAA's Emerging Sports for Women program.
Joe Norton is eager to lead the new women's program at North Central in part because of the sport's growth.
"The popularity of women's wrestling is rising at an encouraging rate across the country," Norton said. "We saw potential for North Central to be a leader in it, and we have a great opportunity to do so as the first CCIW school to add it at the varsity level. I fully expect other Division III schools in the Midwest and elsewhere to follow suit in the coming years.
"I'm grateful for the leadership of Jim Miller, Marty Sauer and President (Troy) Hammond for buying into this vision and for their faith in me to build a program that can compete with the best in the country."
Joe Norton has deep roots within North Central College. As a student-athlete, Norton was a four-year starter for the Cardinals wrestling program from 2006-2010, and was team captain for the 2009-2010. After serving as head coach at the now-defunct wrestling program at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, Norton returned to his alma mater, where earlier this year was named the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) and NWCA Lower Midwest Region Coach of the Year in February after leading the men's team to a 12-2 record in dual meets and the program's seventh CCIW team championship.
North Central is the fourth collegiate institution in the state of Illinois to announce the addition of varsity women's wrestling, joining MacMurray College in Jacksonville, McKendree University in Lebanon, and Lindenwood University-Belleville.
Located in Naperville, Ill. in west-suburban Chicago, North Central College is a private liberal arts college. Founded in 1861, the school has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students. With the exception of the just-announced women's wrestling program, North Central's sports teams -- the Cardinals -- compete in NCAA Division III.
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