Women’s Wrestling Comes to York College in November

The program debuts as the 24th varsity sport for the Spartan Athletic Department. The NCAA has listed Women’s Wrestling as an Emerging Sport, which lays the path for it to become an NCAA Championship sport. 

The Spartans’ schedule includes eight tournaments and seven dual matches during the year, including a trio of home events. The home slate opens on Nov. 15 against Delaware Valley as part of a doubleheader with the men’s program at the M&T Bank Field House. The Spartans also will host their own portion of the annual New Standard Corporation Invitational on Dec. 2. York wraps up their regular season with a tri-match against East Stroudsburg and Alvernia on Feb. 10. 

The post-season will consist of the NCWWC Region One tournament on Feb. 24. Wrestlers who advance through the regional tournament participate in the national championships in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on March 8 and 9. 

The Spartans begin the campaign with a roster of 12: one junior, one sophomore, and 10 first-year students. York’s roster features seven wrestlers from Pennsylvania, three from New Jersey, and one each from Maryland and Oregon. 

Alexis Bastress – first-year Nursing major from York
Allison Brandt – first-year Premedical Sciences major from Sussex, NJ
Katelyn Coldren – first-year Nursing major from Carlisle
Chloe Gross – junior Healthcare Administration major from York
Naylee Lelrey – first-year Undeclared major from York 
Megan Knapp – first-year Exercise Science major from Shady Side, MD
Emma Lavalle – first-year Mechanical Engineering major from Gettysburg
Lexi Mazzella – sophomore Nursing major from Bordentown, NJ
Rebekah Patzke – first-year Exercise Science major from Lakeview, OR
Faith Warner – first-year Sport Management major from Newville
Ava Weibley – first-year Undeclared major from Carlisle
Maura White – first-year Mechanical Engineering major from Wharton, NJ

More than 76 schools sponsored Women’s Wrestling at the varsity level in the NCAA in 2022-23. The sport’s growth puts it on track to become the sixth sport to earn NCAA Championship status through the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program, joining rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003), and beach volleyball (2015). The anticipated timeline for the first NCAA women’s wrestling championship is the winter of 2026. 

The Spartans are the fourth MAC school to sponsor wrestling, with Arcadia adding the sport in the fall of 2025. Six Division III schools in Pennsylvania have sponsored women’s wrestling; all six programs started in the last three years.