Arizona State University looks to add women’s wrestling team
Aug 9, 2017, 9:59 AM
FILE - In this May 19, 2016, file photo, Adeline Gray, left, attempts to take down Canada's Justina Di Stasio during the Beat the Streets wrestling exhibition in Times Square in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)
PHOENIX — Arizona State University was one of 11 schools to apply to the NCAA on Tuesday to add a recognized women’s wrestling team.
According to Wrestle Like A Girl — an organization that encourages women to take up the sport — ASU was the only Division I school to apply for NCAA Emerging Sport status.
The NCAA was expected to review the schools’ applications next month. If the bids are approved, the schools will be invited to give a presentation as the next step in the process.
ASU has had only one female wrestler. Kelsey Campbell made the men’s team after excelling at the sport at Milwaukie High School in Oregon.
“I don’t think any college wrestler walks into a room and expects to see a girl,” she told ASU News in 2012. “Some welcomed me with open arms and some didn’t want me there. There was a lot of room to learn and grow but it made me really tough.”
Campbell won a national title with ASU in 2007 in the 63-kilogram weight class.
Campbell competed in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London but did not medal.
The Anchorage, Alaska native lives in Tempe and is a coach with Sunkist Kids Wrestling.
