USA Wrestling to Host Inaugural Women’s Collegiate Club Nationals in Iowa

USA Wrestling has announced that it will host its inaugural Women’s Collegiate Club Nationals on March 5 at The Palestra in North Liberty, Iowa, in a move to expand national competition opportunities at the college level for women.

The competition will be open to all female student-athletes who participate in club wrestling at a collegiate institution at any level (NCAA, NAIA, NCWA, NJCAA, 3C2A, etc.) that does not currently field a varsity program in the NCAA or NAIA divisions. If a school is eligible to compete at the NCAA or NAIA national tournaments, its club program or individual student-athletes will not qualify to wrestle at the event.

The USA Wrestling Women’s Collegiate Club Nationals will be conducted under current international women’s freestyle rules and will match the NCAA/NAIA varsity weight classes. Two divisions will be offered—a high-performance division for more-seasoned competitors seeking elite national competition and a futures division for beginner-level athletes with less than two years of college wrestling experience.

In order to participate, all entrants must be enrolled and in good academic standing at their institution, hold a current USA Wrestling membership, and have competed in at least five freestyle matches against female college opponents during the 2025–2026 season.

Registration and Awards

Online registration is currently open for the event and athletes are encouraged to sign up by the early registration deadline of February 12, as well as to use the discount code Club2Varsity to save an additional $50 on tournament registration.

Traditional USA Wrestling octagon awards will be presented to the top-eight placers (All-Americans) in each weight class in both divisions. Additionally, every champion in the high-performance division will be invited to participate in a U.S. National Team training camp held at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The USA Wrestling Women’s Collegiate Club Nationals will take place a day before the inaugural NCAA Championships, which will take place nearby in Coralville, Iowa, on March 6-7.

NCAA Official Status

It comes a year after women’s wrestling was approved as an official NCAA championship sport, becoming the sixth emerging sport to earn such a status after rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003) and beach volleyball (2015).

USA Wrestling has established the Women’s Collegiate Club Nationals to be held alongside their new official championship for the varsity teams.