Wrestling is believed to be one of the oldest sports in history, with traces of its origins going back as far as 20,000 years ago. Girls and women’s wrestling? Well, that took a little longer.

Professionally, there has been a recognized women’s world champion going back as far as 1937, when Mildred Burke took the belt. She formed the Women’s World Wrestling Association in the early 1950s, and the sport began to see growth in America from there. Japan saw a spread around the same time, too, with nations such as the UK and Mexico following suit over the decades.

At the prep and collegiate levels, however, it took even longer. The University of Minnesota-Morris was the first school to establish a women’s varsity wrestling program in 1993-94. 32 years later, women’s wrestling will become the

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