By Trenton Fagan
Rochester University is adding a women’s wrestling team to its stable of athletic teams. The team will begin in fall 2022 and will be coached by Wesley Maskill, head men’s wrestling coach,
Clayton Bissett, assistant athletic director, said RU is adding women’s wrestling because the sport is increasing in popularity. “Women's wrestling is an up-and-coming sport in the NAIA, but more importantly, in the state of Michigan. It is growing rapidly and other schools in our conference have added it. We wanted to give high school female wrestlers another option to stay in state and wrestle collegiately.”
The women’s wrestling season is from November to March, and other schools in the conference who have women’s wrestling are Lourdes, Siena Heights and Indiana Tech.
Maskill took over as the men's head coach three years ago after the Warriors finished their inaugural season. At that time, only three wrestlers competed for RU, and since Maskill took over, the Warriors now have 28 wrestlers competing.
According to RU Athletics, women's wrestling became an NAIA invitational sport during the 2018-19 school year, consisting of 21 teams. Following three years of growth, 39 schools now sponsor women's wrestling in the NAIA.