Olivia Mancha is entering her junior season at Choate Rosemary Hall after finishing third at the 2026 Prep National Championships (100 pounds). She writes opinion pieces for her school newspaper.
For years, if you talked about girls’ prep wrestling, one school stood above the rest: Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania.
SEM didn’t just win. They set the standard. They proved what was possible when a school fully invested in girls’ wrestling. Nationally ranked athletes filled the lineup; they built one of the deepest rooms in the country, and everyone else was left chasing them.
That foundation didn’t happen overnight. Under Erin Vandiver, Wyoming Seminary became the first true powerhouse in girls’ prep wrestling, developing national champions, World Team members, and future stars like Ashlynn Ortega, Ava Bayless, Kennedy Blades and Reese Larramendy. The program also benefited from having Olympic medalist Adeline Gray on staff, helping establish a standard that other schools would eventually try to match.
National Prep Team Champions: 2022-2026
Now, that chase is getting interesting.
Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, has entered the conversation with a roster capable of competing for National Prep titles, and it recently hired East Stroudsburg All-American Mia Macaluso as the new head coach.
More importantly, Blair’s investment signals that one of the nation’s most historic prep wrestling programs sees girls’ wrestling as something worth building at the highest level. That carries weight well beyond one roster.
Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut, has entered the conversation, investing in recruiting, coaching, and building a culture around girls’ wrestling. Rather than simply adding a girls’ team, Choate has made girls’ wrestling part of its long-term vision, creating an environment where elite wrestlers can develop alongside one of the country’s strongest academic experiences.
And now New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson has announced itself in a big way. The hiring of Sofia Macaluso, a U20 World silver medalist and one of the most respected young coaches in the sport, immediately established the program’s ambitions. Pair that with the addition of elite recruits and World Team members, and NYMA has made it clear it expects to compete for championships right away.
Top National Prep Schools
Phillips and Spalding don't have a designated women's-only team, so the head coach of both programs is listed.
It feels familiar.
Women’s college wrestling has already gone through something similar.
The sport was already established before the University of Iowa added women’s wrestling in 2021. There were great programs, great coaches, and great wrestlers long before the Hawkeyes entered the picture.
McKendree had already built one of the deepest rosters in the country, and programs like King and Campbellsville had spent years proving what success in women’s wrestling could look like. But Iowa changed expectations as the first Power Four program to add women’s wrestling.
When Iowa hired 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun to lead the program, it wasn’t simply adding another team. It brought a global brand into the women’s game, immediately attracting Olympic-caliber talent and changing what schools believed was possible. Suddenly, everyone else had a choice: either keep doing what they were doing or raise the standard.
Schools responded. North Central (NCAA Division III) knocked off the Hawkeyes during the semifinals of the 2026 NWCA National Duals, and McKendree (NCAA Division II) won the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships in March.
Iowa State recently added a program, hiring two-time World silver medalist Alli Ragan to lead the Cyclones. Columbia University added a program several weeks later, with long-time club coach Emma Randall taking the reins.
One domino fell, then another. Currently, there are 10 NCAA Division I women's wrestling programs, with more expected to join soon.
Author Olivia Mancha, left, will be a junior at Choate Rosemary Hall next season
That’s what makes prep wrestling so exciting right now. For the first time, it feels like multiple schools are building with the expectation of competing for National Prep titles, not just participating. That’s a sign of how much girls’ prep wrestling has grown.
SEM set the bar.
Blair began the chase.
Choate entered the conversation.
Now NYMA is raising the question of how many schools are willing to invest in girls’ wrestling.
Every time another school commits to the sport, it creates more opportunities for girls. More scholarships. More roster spots. More coaches investing their time. More rivalries. More reasons for talented wrestlers to choose prep wrestling.
Competition like this doesn’t weaken the sport—it raises the level across the board. Every program is pushed to improve, and every wrestler benefits from that.
And rivalries matter.
The men’s side has decades of history—programs built traditions by chasing one another. Championships became meaningful because there was always another great team trying to knock off the favorite.
The girls’ side is beginning to build the same stories.
The goal shouldn’t be for one team to dominate forever. The goal should be for five or six schools to believe they can win every year. That’s how the sport grows.
As one domino falls, the next one usually isn’t far behind.
Let’s make sure the National Prep girls’ team title carries the same prestige and excitement as the boys’. If the current momentum continues, we aren’t far away.