‘It’s all gas, no brakes’: Delaware fully sanctions high school girls wrestling

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In 2023, when Eustace Beazer held his first practice for the new girls wrestling team at St. Georges Technical High School in Delaware, three kids showed up at the gym.

Each year since, however, the number of girls hitting the mat has grown dramatically. This year, 40 girls competed, and the Hawks had the most team points at the unofficial state tournament.

The growth at St. Georges, located near Middletown, mirrors the statewide rise of the sport. This year, 305 girls competed. That’s nearly triple the number who wrestled just two seasons ago.

The state’s sports gurus have noticed.

Last month, the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association elevated girls wrestling to a Level 3 sport.

That designation, the culmination of years of efforts by youth wrestling leaders, means that the sport will have at least 16 girls varsity programs, starting next season. And at season’s end, the DIAA will hold sanctioned state championships that will crown individual and team titlists.

“That’s going to be awesome, just a great thing for the girls,” Beazer said. “I think a lot of people put asterisks on their accolades, which I don’t think is right. Now that it’s officially official, we can go past those asterisks. There’s no ‘unofficial.’ It’s all gas, no brakes, as the kids would say.”

Dave Baylor, the DIAA’s executive director,  said “the level of interest kept increasing each year,” so it’s time for girls wrestling to move out of the ranks of a de facto “club sport” at secondary schools. “I think it’s excellent,” Baylor said.

Some girls had been competing with the boys teams, but that will no longer be permitted at schools that have separate boys and girls teams.

Proponents for girls wrestling rave about the development, noting that the new status for high school girls wrestling comes as Delaware State University completed its first varsity girls wrestling season.

Vic Leonard, founder of the Beast of the East tournament that attracts boys and girls high school powerhouse teams from the region to Delaware every year, said he’s been pushing for the Level 3 status for years. Delaware becomes the 47th state to offer such recognition to girls wrestling, joining neighbors Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“I advocated for it from 2018 and finally got it over the goal line as a Level 3 sport” with the DIAA, said Leonard, noting that he’s “had to bang my fist” to a roomful of men and say it’s long past time for the girls to get the status they long deserved.

Leonard, a longtime coach of Delaware high school boys and girls, said he expects more than 20 high schools to field girls varsity teams in the fall.

Daniel Boone, chair of DIAA’s Girls Wrestling Committee, lauded the explosion in the sport statewide.

“It’s great and there’s a lot of buzz around the state about it,” said Boone, who has coached girls at three Delaware schools and is now at Charter School of Wilmington.

“I’m really excited to see where the sport goes next year as we are able to blow the whistle and really work towards a fully sanctioned DIAA-recognized dual meet and individual state championships,” Boone said. “We’re ecstatic. I don’t think anybody saw how quickly this would grow and take off and it’s just been fantastic.”

Addison Weismiller, an unofficial girls state champion for St. Georges Tech this year, said she couldn’t be happier to be able to compete for an official title next school year, when she will be a senior.

Weismiller, who competes at 145 pounds, was one of the handful of girls on hand when the team formed during her freshman year.

She said she joined because St. Georges didn’t have a swim team, and over three seasons she’s been heartened to see more teams and competitors across the state.

“It’s kind of insane how it has been sanctioned,” Weismiller said. “I think that’s amazing.”