By Cole Strzelecki
On January 17th, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) voted women’s wrestling to officially become the 91st championship sport. This decision was quite an accomplishment for college women’s wrestling teams across the United States. It allowed these teams to qualify for and compete in championship matches against each other, matches that would make these schools’ teams recognized across the country. The Western New England University team was one of the pioneers of this accomplishment.
Western New England University added women’s wrestling to its athletics program in the 2022-23 academic year. At the time, only 21 other colleges and universities across the U.S. had women’s wrestling teams. That number has increased to over 100 in the three years since WNE’s program began.
“We were the first team in Division III and only the second in all of New England to add one,” explained Tyler Keane, the head coach of women’s wrestling. “So for the number to increase that drastically in three years from a starting point like that, we really were pioneers to the program.”
The increase in number of women’s wrestling teams in the United States has been immensely helpful for Western New England’s team. In years prior, the team had to put much time into figuring out who they could compete against and how. Matching up with a limited number of teams, few of them close by, was logistically challenging.
“We were strategic about it,” Keane said. “What it got to was there were a handful of schools that we could get to within a four-and-a-half-hour radius, which meant that, if we had to, we could take a day trip down to them in Pennsylvania and New York to compete.” Competitions for the Golden Bears women’s wrestling team ended up involving weekend trips that would take up a majority of a day. However, Western New England University’s athletes were committed to this sport and gave their time to compete in what they loved doing.
“I don’t know if other schools in our region would have added women’s wrestling to their programs until they saw what we did and how successful and feasible it was,” said Keane. Since Western New England began fielding a women’s wrestling squad, institutions like Springfield Technical Community College in Massachusetts and Sacred Heart University in Connecticut have followed suit. “Seeing the sport’s growth in New England after three years is really cool to me and the team,” added Keane. Now, Western New England’s team can compete closer to home, allowing for easier scheduling and more support from their fans going into future seasons.
At the close of the winter sports season, Western New England’s women’s wrestling team brought their top qualifying players to Iowa for the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships, the first ever held. The team saw national wins in the 124 lb., 138 lb., and 160 lb. weight classes there. The winners of these classes were Linda Holeman in the 124 lb class, Tanya Teneva in the 138 lb. class, and Atianna Williams in the 160 lb class. These three wins have established Western New England University as a known name for the women’s wrestling community, pitting them as a threatening matchup for other teams to watch out for next season.
The accomplishment of having so many wins at the first national competition for women’s wrestling has left the Golden Bears women’s team with a high. Going into their next season as a nationally recognized sport, the women’s wrestling team plans to do even better than this year, propelling their name as a team and as athletes forward into nationwide recognition. Alongside that, the team plans to continue making the sport even more recognized across the country, especially in New England.
“I think that women’s wrestling has the potential to become just as big as men’s wrestling,” freshman Nora Locicero said. “Even though the sport is now an official NCAA sport, we are still so small. The women’s nationals were in Ohio, and the men’s nationals were in Rhode Island. That is a plane ride versus a bus ride.” Locicero competed in women’s wrestling in high school and knows how unrecognized the sport can be.
“The fact the WNE as an institution supports the women’s wrestling team just as much as the men’s wrestling makes me really love this school because they are one of the few institutions to give us a chance and a place to be a part of a woman’s wrestling team,” Locicero explained. “I think that the sport is going to continue to grow…[and] more colleges and universities will build and provide programs for women wrestlers separate from the men’s teams.” Many feel the same as Locicero, and based on the trends of the past three years for women’s wrestling and this year’s championship induction, there’s a high chance this will happen.
