The Wilkes athletic department will add women’s wrestling to its list of varsity intercollegiate sports, starting in the 2025-26 season.
The announcement was made Wednesday morning in a press conference held by athletic director Scott Musa at the Marts Center.
“As the first-ever Division III men’s wrestling national champion, Wilkes has a proud history with the sport and adding to that history by starting a women’s program now makes total sense for us,” Musa said. “It is one of, if not the, fastest growing sports in high school for women and fits perfectly with our culture.”
Wilkes now joins the 51 colleges and universities that had women’s wrestling programs competing in 2022-23, and more than 70 schools reported that they intended to sponsor the sport during the 2023-24 academic year.
Musa also announced on Wednesday that Jon Laudenslager, currently the head coach of the Wilkes men’s wrestling team, would be promoted to the role of Director of Wrestling, overseeing both programs.
Pankil Chander, a 2017 graduate of Wilkes and a program alum, will join the staff as an associate head coach for the men’s team, and Musa also said the school will look to hire and additional full-time associate head coach for the women’s team to complete the coaching structure.
Wilkes is the first Landmark Conference school to offer women’s wrestling at the varsity level. Across the NCAA, women’s wrestling was deemed an “emerging sport” during the 2020-21 season and the sport’s first NCAA championship is projected to be held in 2026.
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