Luther College announces addition of women’s wrestling program

DECORAH — Luther College will expand its athletics department.

Luther administrators announced Thursday that it plans to add a women’s wrestling program, making it the 11th sport offered to female athletes. The Norse are expected to begin competition in the 2025-26 school year.

“Luther has a long legacy of supporting its students’ desire to belong to teams, to learn discipline and resiliency and to compete,” Luther President Jenifer K. Ward said in the news release. “We were among the first colleges to establish varsity teams for women, beginning in 1964 — well before Title IX legislation required us to. We will soon celebrate our 60th anniversary offering our women opportunities to participate in varsity athletics.”

Ward also noted that the upcoming year will be used to plan and prepare for the inaugural season. This fall and winter will be needed to promote the program and inform potential recruits. The goal is to conduct a nationwide search in the winter to hire the program’s first coach after this college wrestling season.

“With both the NCAA and the American Rivers Conference set to add women’s wrestling as a championship, the moment to join in is now,” Luther Athletics Director Renae Hartl said in the release. “And with renovations underway at the future Gerdin Fieldhouse for Athletics and Wellness, including an expanded wrestling training space, the timing is perfect.”

Luther becomes the seventh American Rivers Conference school with women’s wrestling, joining Buena Vista, Central, Dubuque, Loras, Simpson and Wartburg. The first conference tournament was held in January in Waverly.

“With both the NCAA and the American Rivers Conference set to add women’s wrestling as a championship, the moment to join in is now,” Hartl said. “And with renovations underway at the future Gerdin Fieldhouse for Athletics and Wellness, including an expanded wrestling training space, the timing is perfect.”

According to the release, a recent NCAA convention included the endorsement of divisional championships for each level. Women’s wrestling is the 91st NCAA national championship, which includes more than 60 NCAA Division III member institutions with sponsored programs.

Competition schedules will be determined in the future and may be impacted by first-year participation.

“We won’t know for a while whether this will begin as open competition or also include team duals,” Hartl said. “What we do know is young women will have the opportunity to put on that famous Luther blue singlet and compete like a Norse.”

Northeast Iowa has been a hotbed for girls’ wrestling. Area high school programs spearheaded the charge for the sport to be sanctioned by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Luther provides more opportunity for female wrestlers to extend their careers.

“ The addition of women’s wrestling at Luther College will no doubt have a generational impact for female athletes to come,” IGHSAU Executive Director Erin Gerlich said in the release. “As we look across our state and our country over recent years, girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing programs offered in sports. In Iowa alone, we have consistently seen the number of high school female wrestlers grow exponentially each year and reports from the youth wrestling community show no signs of girls wrestling slowing down anytime soon.”

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