Rise of a sport: Why girls high school wrestling is enjoying a popularity boom in SC
A normal Sunday lunch eight years ago turned into a foreshadowing moment for high school girls wrestling in South Carolina.
Reagan Beard, the then 6-year-old daughter of Rock Hill High School wrestling coach Cain Beard asked him over lunch after the state tournament, “When can I wrestle?”
Shortly afterward, Beard got his daughter started in the sport. And while doing that, his mind got to thinking ahead: What would happen if she continued her involvement in the sport during her high school career?
At the time, there were a handful of girls who competed on boys teams across the state. Fast forward to 2025, and girls wrestling has taken off across South Carolina — and a monumental moment for the sport happened Saturday at Dreher High School.
With Baird’s daughter now almost 14 and among those in attendance, Jenger Rhoades pinned Greenwood’s Gabby Palmore in the final match Saturday to give the Rock Hill Bearcats the inaugural girls wrestling dual-team championship in South Carolina.
It was the first time in state history that a school was crowned a girls dual wrestling state champion with a 16-team bracket and one classification. It’s the third year girls wrestling was a sanctioned sport by the S.C. High School League, but girls competed the previous two seasons at the state’s individual championships, held separate from the dual-team event.
“We have been building on this for several years where the girls could have a dual-team final. It is pretty awesome,” Beard said. “So satisfying. We had two great teams and came down to the last match. That is what we have been building for. I have watched girls wrestling and it has elevated so much.
“The quality of wrestling is so great and it is a testament of every single coach that believes we can get this thing started and we can do girls wrestling and make it a real thing.”
The trajectory for the sport
Girls wrestling will get another chance to shine next weekend at the individual championships at the Florence Center, the same weekend and location as the boys event.
Girls wrestling joins boys volleyball and girls lacrosse as the newest sanctioned sports by the SCHSL. Boys volleyball has crowned state champions the past two seasons in two classifications. Girls lacrosse started in 2010 and went to two classifications in 2017.
If girls wrestling continues on its current track, there is a chance it could grow from one to two classifications.
According to the SCHSL, there were 18 schools that fielded full teams for the playoffs. A minimum of 12 teams is needed to crown a champion, according to the league constitution. To be eligible, a school needed at least seven of the sport’s 14 weight classes. The 14 different weight classes are the same number that the boys use, with weight class cutoff points a little different.
Four of those 18 teams are from the Midlands — Blythewood, River Bluff, White Knoll and Gilbert. River Bluff and Blythewood both advanced to the semifinals this year. Blythewood has had individual success with Tiyanna Mack winning two state championships and looking for her third next weekend.
For River Bluff, it was the first season with a full team. The Gators had just one wrestler last season, Sophia Voudouris (a state qualifier), but grew to 13 this season and lost to Greenwood in the semis. Of the 13, six are qualified for the individual championships.
Gators coach Luke Jordan moved from the JV boys wrestling coach to girls varsity coach and started encouraging others to join Voudouris.
“I told Sophia and her parents she deserves a team and a chance to do this,” Jordan said. “I was teaching science, so any time I saw a girl in class that might be tough I told them they should try out. Over the summer, we had eight girls try it and they stuck and now we had 13 girls to finish the season.”
Having a coach dedicated to just coaching girls is a big benefit, Jordan said, and will help grow the sport. .
Jordan said coaching girls is a little different as far as teaching where to put pressure against an opponent. Boys wrestling is more concentrated on the upper part of the body, he said, while he teaches girls to attack more around the ankles.
“I teach technique the same,” Jordan said. “My conditioning is tough. In the summer, we ran two miles a day then lifted weights and wrestled right after. They did the same things the boys were doing.”
Finding joy in a new sport
There were 637 girls who participated this season in high school wrestling statewide, up from 365 in 2022-23, according to the SCHSL.
Nationally, the number of girls wrestling has jumped in recent years. In 1994, there were 804 high school girls wrestlers, but now more than 64,000 girls are involved in the sport, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations participation list for the 2023-24 school year.
That number has doubled from 31,654 in 2021-22 and was 50,016 in 2022-23. There are currently 47 states with girls-sanctioned wrestling championships.
The sport’s growth has been seen on the collegiate level as well. Last month, the NCAA voted to add women’s wrestling to its list of championship sports for Divisions I, II and III.
In 2023-24, there were 76 NCAA women’s wrestling programs and more than 1,200 wrestlers competing. According to the NCAA, almost 20 more programs were projected to be added this year.
“We extend a big thank you to everyone who supported this effort and the athletes, coaches and fans for their passion for a fast-growing and exciting sport that brings even more opportunities for women to participate in athletics,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a news release.
The sport has gotten support nationally from such people as U.S. Olympic wrestler Sally Roberts, who founded “Wrestle Like a Girl,” whose mission is “is to empower girls and women using the sport of wrestling to become leaders in life.”
Some girls are juggling multiple sports. One of his wrestlers was getting ready to start softball practice, Beard said. Jordan had three girls who play volleyball, one basketball player and another who was a jujitsu teacher.
Rock Hill’s Serenity Davis and Brismar Velasquez began their careers in different sports. Davis started out as a cheerleader during the beginning of high school before making the switch to wrestling.
After encouragement from her sister, she gave wrestling a try and is the No. 1-ranked wrestler in SCMat’s 105-pound rankings.
“I was good with tumbling and flips, so wrestling is going to be good for me since I am really fast on my feet,” Davis said.
For Velasquez, she started out playing basketball before making the move to wrestling, a sport her older brothers participated in. Now, she has the same joy they experienced.
“I appreciate all the coaches for pushing girls wrestling and we can enjoy this moment,” Velasquez said. “I wanted to do it and like it. I do it for my brothers.”
Both said they probably wouldn’t have joined the wrestling team if they had to compete against boys as was required in the past when girls participation was lower. The growth of the sport in South Carolina and around the country is encouraging, they said.
“Coaches teach us to fight for everything we got,” Davis said. “We are getting challenged like the boys. It has pushed us out there to be successful.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 2:07 PM with the headline "Rise of a sport: Why girls high school wrestling is enjoying a popularity boom in SC."
