Arcadia University recently announced the addition of men’s and women’s wrestling programs, to begin competition in the fall of 2025.

With this new addition, Arcadia will become the 21st Division III men’s program in the state of Pennsylvania while the women’s program will become the seventh.

Arcadia plans to convert the existing 8,500-square-foot gymnasium at 125 Royal Ave., site of the former Bishop McDevitt High School, into a practice facility that will include approximately 5,000-square-feet of mat space to go along with cardio equipment and related training equipment. There will be an adjacent 1,500-square-foot weight room as well as locker rooms, coaching offices, and an athletic training room on-site. Renovations are planned to begin during the 2023-24 academic year.

With the addition, Arcadia University will increase its offerings to sponsor 28 sports (14 women, 13 men, one co-ed) beginning in the 2025-26 academic year, including the recent additions of esports (2019), women’s and men’s indoor and outdoor track and field (2019), and women’s and men’s ice hockey (2021). Arcadia captured two MAC Freedom championships last year in men’s basketball and baseball.

“Arcadia has demonstrated a great commitment to expanding our sport offerings over the last decade,” Executive Director of Athletics and Recreation Brian Granata said. “The university is committed to providing a wide range of sport offerings to meet the needs of current and prospective student-athletes. We are located in an area that is ripe with wrestling talent and look forward to building a competitive program.”

The search for two separate head coaches will begin later this year, with the goal that the successful candidates will be in place by next spring following the completion of the upcoming wrestling season.

“The MAC is committed to being a leader in providing broad-based sport sponsorship and opportunities for student-athletes,” said Megan Morrison, Executive Director of the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). “With the addition of men’s and women’s wrestling, Arcadia is demonstrating that commitment.”

As of July 2023, the NCAA sponsors 122 varsity men’s programs and 51 women’s programs at the Division III level. The Knights will be the eighth team in the MAC for men’s, while women’s will be the fifth.

The men’s team will compete in the MAC and NCAA Southeast Regional along with dual meets and invitational tournaments, while the women’s team will compete with an independent schedule featuring dual meets and invitational tournaments.

Earlier this spring, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) sanctioned women’s wrestling, with the requisite 100 schools in the state sponsoring competition. This allows both district and state championships to open to girls’ wrestlers. The PIAA also sponsors 471 boys’ programs with 9,420 boys’ wrestlers as of the 2021-22 school year. 

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