Inaugural Girls Wrestling Invitational Tournament Begins Friday

NEW HAVEN, CT — At 4:30 p.m. Friday, history will be made as the inaugural CIAC girls wrestling invitational tournament kicks off at the Floyd Little Athletic Center on the campus of Hillhouse High School. A total of 75 participants, representing 43 Connecticut high schools, will compete in 10 weight classes.

Pairings have been released by the CIAC, and the first, third, and fifth-place matches will coincide with the same matches in the boys State Open competition Saturday.

A total of 15 schools have at least two athletes entered in the tournament. Amity Regional leads with way with five competitors, while Northwestern Regional, South Windsor, Montville, Norwich Free Academy and Windsor each have four. Three wrestlers each are registered from Conard, Berlin, New Britain and Windham.

“Over the past 99 years, the CIAC has been committed to providing student-athletes with exceptional education-best experiences,” CAS-CIAC Executive Director Glenn Lungarini said. “The inaugural CIAC Girls Wrestling Invitational Tournament exemplifies the CIAC’s innovative approach toward empowering student-athletes through school-based sports. We have every belief this will be a great showcase for talented student-athletes who are certainly deserving of this spotlight.”

According to the CIAC, the number of girls competing in high school wrestling in Connecticut has nearly doubled in the past four years, from 70 participants in 2015-16 to 131 in 2018-19.

Bob Lehr, CIAC Executive Staff member and Wrestling Committee liaison, said, “There was tremendous enthusiasm to create this Invitational with the members of the CIAC Wrestling Committee, and there is great hope this will create even more excitement and growth for girls wrestling in the state.”

Brackets and complete information about the tournament may be found here.