Courtesy photo Jordyn Fouse and her father, David Fouse.

Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part series on female wrestling in the region.

In today’s world, women and girls are rightly afforded equal opportunities as men and boys in almost every endeavor.

The sport of wrestling, which had long been considered an exclusively male bastion, has seen its competition numbers for girls and women proliferate on both the college and high school levels over the past two decades.

The number of high school girls competing in wrestling has seen a dramatic increase, with some statistics showing a five-fold jump in numbers since 2013. Girls wrestling has been recognized as the fastest-growing high school sport in the United States, outpacing even traditional sports like football and basketball.

In Pennsylvania alone, 249 high schools now offer competitive wrestling for girls, and in 2024, the first-ever PIAA-sanctioned girls state wrestling tournament was held along with the annual boys state wrestling tournament at Hershey’s Giant Center.

There are now 46 states in the country that hold state championship tournament events for girls that are recognized by their state’s high school executive association.

The growth of women’s wrestling has been just as profound at the college level, with more than 1,200 women currently competing in wrestling at NCAA schools, and the NCAA having officially added women’s wrestling as its 91st championship sport.

Jordyn Fouse and Alyssa Favara — two young women who both won PIAA-sanctioned wrestling championships at Johnstown’s Bishop McCort Catholic High School and who are now members of the Grand Valley (Mich.) State University wrestling program — have enjoyed watching the growth of the sport among girls and young women.

“I’m not surprised at all (wrestling) that wrestling has grown for girls and women,” said Fouse, who recently earned a spot with the USA Team for the Women’s World Freestyle Wrestling Championships, which will be held in Samokov, Bulgaria Aug. 17-24. “It was growing among girls when I was younger, and it’s now the fastest-growing high school sport. I completely understand why. It’s a really amazing sport, and (girls) who have participated in it tell other (girls) to come try it.

“I’m excited to see (how the growth of girls and women’s wrestling) goes in the future,” added Fouse, who started her wrestling career in the Northern Bedford County School District before transferring to McCort in 2022 and winning a championship at 136 pounds in the inaugural girls PIAA-sanctioned state tournament that was held in 2024.

Bill Bassett, who started the McCort girls wrestling program and coached the program for a couple of years, now heads up the school’s nationally-acclaimed boys wrestling program. Bassett said that the influence of fathers who coach their daughters in wrestling has been vital.

Fouse’s father, Dave, is the current coach of the McCort girls wrestling program and will be coaching his daughter in the world competition in Bulgaria.

“There’s a really strong group of dads who are coaching now who have really put a lot of work in, and Mr. Fouse has been a big part of that group,” Bassett said. “I knew that once it became a sanctioned sport, girls wrestling was going to grow very, very fast. I’m really excited for girls wrestling right now, and it’s definitely going to continue to climb and continue to get better.”

Favara won a Florida High School Athletic Association girls wrestling championship in 2022 before moving to Johnstown with her mother and enrolling in high school at McCort, where she joined that school’s girls wrestling program and won a PIAA state championship at 190 pounds in 2024.

She participated in the NCAA Women’s Wrestling Tournament in Coralville, Iowa, this past March as a freshman at Lock Haven State University but suffered a season-ending knee injury in the quarterfinal round of the national tourney.

Favara said that girls and women who have competed in wrestling have become trailblazers for the sport.

“I’m so proud of every girl who has wrestled, because every girl who has wrestled has contributed to the growth of the sport for girls and women,” Favara said. “I’m extremely proud of the girls who have stepped out of their comfort zone and who have stepped in the face of scrutiny to promote the sport of wrestling for girls and women, when there are still so many people who put (girls wrestling) down and make it seem like it’s less than boys wrestling.

“I myself have done quite a bit to promote the sport for girls and women, and I’ve been friends with girls and women who have done so as well,” Favara added. “It’s not easy. It’s intimidating going out into what has been a male-dominated sport for so long, but now the girls are making a statement to the world that they belong there, too.”