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How Many High Schools in Arkansas Have Wrestling

Posted on 1/9/24 at 9:59 pm
Posted by pioneerbasketball
Team Bunchie
Member since Oct 2005
132238 posts
Posted on 1/9/24 at 9:59 pm
Thanks.
Posted by Clark14
L.A.Hog
Member since Dec 2014
19076 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 12:19 am to
Seems like some years ago someone was trying to initiate it somewhere but I have no idea if it took hold. That’s all I got.
Posted by hogfly
Fayetteville, AR
Member since May 2014
4634 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 5:25 am to
Are you wanting an actual precise number? All the big schools in NWA have boys and girls wrestling.

From an Arkansas Money and Politics article:
“ Beginning with 44 in 2008, there are now more than 100 boys and girls wrestling programs combined at the high school level.”
This post was edited on 1/10/24 at 5:37 am
Posted by pioneerbasketball
Team Bunchie
Member since Oct 2005
132238 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 7:05 am to
I was wanting a ballpark range.

Always thought wrestling would help with olineman in the state.
Posted by Hawgnsincebirth55
Gods country
Member since Sep 2016
16011 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 7:58 am to
I would think it would help more with linebackers since that’s more of the body type that normally wrestles. Powerlifting would help lineman more
Posted by hogfly
Fayetteville, AR
Member since May 2014
4634 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 9:15 am to
All kinds of body types wrestle. That's the best thing about the sport: it's based on weight, so you can have "fair" competition among all shapes and sizes.

Wrestling is definitely seen as cross-training for lots of football positions from lineman to linebackers to dbacks. If you follow the in-state wrestling programs, they'll usually get a coach or two from the UofA to provide a quote to them about how great wrestling is for development of football players (lots of times it's coaches from the midwest like Bielema).

It's an awesome sport. There's something about that individual 1v1 competition on a public stage that is hard to beat. My son wrestled from when he was 5 up until COVID. He started back again in high school and was doing well, then he had a really scary staph infection that led to MRSA in his knee and a hospital stay and we bailed on it (mountain biking is his primary sport). I do feel like wrestling was pretty crucial in developing him into the competitor and athlete he is today, though.
This post was edited on 1/10/24 at 9:16 am
Posted by beebefootballfan
Member since Mar 2011
19012 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 10:30 am to
Destiny Nunez of Beebe was the first Girls State Champion Wrestler in Arkansas. She was wrestling in the boys 106lb class.


Suravieve Robertson of Beebe was the first girl to win a state title wrestling against girls.

Beebe used to have a pretty stout boys program as well. Lot of state medal match qualifiers. Not sure if its still decent anymore.
Posted by dchog
Pea ridge
Member since Nov 2012
21165 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 12:59 pm to
Bentonville is pretty good.
Posted by troyt37
Member since Mar 2008
13315 posts
Posted on 1/10/24 at 2:17 pm to
quote:

It's an awesome sport.


It really is. I was born in California, and lived there until was 10. When I was in 3rd grade, I followed my older brother to his JR High wrestling practice. I could wrestle, and knew I could, because of my brother.

Coach was wary about letting a 3rd grader wrestle with kids 5-7 years older than me, so he said in order to wrestle, I had to be able to do 100 pushups, 200 sit-ups, and spend 5 minutes in an arched position with my back to the mat, only my head and feet touching the mat, rolling my head touching my ear on one side to the other. I did that in about 30 minutes to his surprise, so he let me wrestle. The closest guy on the team to my weight, outweighed me by 25 pounds, which is a lot in wrestling. I pinned him in less than 3 minutes.

So here I am a 3rd grader, who would have the junior high school bus stop at the elementary school to pick me up for meets. By the 4th grade, I was placing and even won a couple of tournaments. Coaches were coming to see me wrestle, because they had heard I was wrestling with the junior high as a 4th grader and winning.

Then we move to Arkansas, and not only is there no wrestling team, there's no football team either. My school played basketball and baseball. Where I was from in California, basketball was for sissies who didn't like to get hit. So baseball was all I had.
Posted by Cheese Grits
Wherever I lay my hat is my home
Member since Apr 2012
54621 posts
Posted on 1/23/24 at 6:01 pm to
How many still have boxing teams?

Prior to Ronnie in 1980, lots of good high school boxing in the state.
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