An Overview of Notre Dame’s New Wrestling Team

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This year, Notre Dame is starting a wrestling program, opening new athletic opportunities for students this year. Throughout the past two decades, girls’ wrestling has been pioneered by California, starting in the early 2000s. Schools with wrestling ‘clubs’ would have unofficial regional tournaments, having the first official girls’ state championship as recently as 2011. 

Groups around the state have worked hard to bring girls’ wrestling to the public, succeeding with over 4,000 girls in California participating in these programs through the last twenty years. By 2013, multiple schools in the San Francisco Bay Area had small girls’ wrestling teams. South Bay schools are still building girls’ wrestling teams to this day, with schools such as Los Altos High School and Abraham Lincoln High School starting their girls’ wrestling teams in 2021.

Both Notre Dame and Presentation High School are starting wrestling teams this year,  indicating a potential future rivalry. Another Catholic high school in the area, Archbishop Mitty High School, started a girls’ wrestling team in 2023; Mitty’s coach, Abby Bachanas, has come to Notre Dame to coach our wrestling team this year. The ND wrestling team has already drawn up interest among students, with clinics having started in October.