Coaches at the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Zone 2 Girls Wrestling State Qualifier were outraged after being informed that none of the top athletes or teams at the meet would be awarded for their accomplishments.
At the competition, 266 athletes and 8 full teams among all 4 zones across the state were denied recognition for their achievements.
Upon being informed of the news, Kellam High School, the host school of the Zone 2 Qualifier, offered to purchase medals for all 4 zones and send them out. The organization running the event’s back end, Virginia Challenge, also offered to distribute extra blank medals that they had to athletes.
Kellam and Virginia Challenge were met with refusal from the VHSL to distribute medals, because of Girls’ Wrestling classification as an “emerging sport.” This led to a great amount of confusion among the girls wrestling community, as they couldn’t understand why their sports’ “emerging” status prevented them from receiving medals for their achievements, whilst the sport of boy’s wrestling had received medals in their regional competitions.
In response to the backlash they received from their decision to prohibit the distribution of medals at the zone qualifiers, VHSL responded through a media advisory sent to the public.
The advisory outlined how participation in girls wrestling, in its last of three years being classified as an emerging sport (according to the VHSL handbook), has increased tremendously across the state, according to VHSL director of communications, Mike McCall.
McCall explained that the format of competition for Girls Wrestling, classified as “zone qualifiers,” are specifically VHSL state qualifying events to reach the state championship. He explained that this format is not new, and has been used for the sport of Girls Golf for years. Unfortunately, since these events are not sponsored by the 24 VHSL regions, the VHSL has never awarded medals for state qualifying events, state quarterfinals or semifinal games in any VHSL sanctioned sports.
As for why the sport of Girls Wrestling used this format instead of having regional competitions that would distribute awards, assistant director for athletics officials program, Chris Robinson, explained that numbers from last year’s participation influenced the use of zone qualifiers.
Luckily, because of the sports growing participation numbers, Chris Robinson reported that a proposal to transition Girls Wrestling from emerging sport status to full sanctioning will be presented to the VHSL Executive Council in May. Girls wrestling has already met several classifications that match the criteria of a VHSL sport.
Though it was disappointing for many Virginian girls wrestlers and their teams to not receive recognition for their accomplishments in the zone qualifiers, the girls wrestling community is hopeful that their sport will soon be recognized as fully sanctioning, and that top athletes will be rewarded with the proper recognition they deserve in the near future.
