AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State, which dropped its women's gymnastics program last month, will start a women's wrestling team that will begin competing in 2027-28, the school announced Thursday.
The Cyclones
are the second power-conference school to add women's wrestling. Iowa just completed its third season. This was the first year the NCAA conducted a championship for women's wrestling that included programs from all three divisions.
“Iowa State enjoys a rich wrestling tradition, and we believe the addition of women’s wrestling will afford tremendous opportunities for young women not only in Iowa, but around the country, to compete at the highest level in the sport,” athletic director Jamie Pollard said. “This is a great day for wrestling in the state of Iowa and at Iowa State University, and we look forward to growing a program under Coach Alli St. John that will build off the historic success of our men’s team."
St. John, a two-time silver medalist at the world championships, has worked three years at the Cyclone Regional Training Center in Ames. Her husband, Derek St. John, is an assistant on the ISU men's team.
St. John was a two-time women's college national champion and four-time finalist at King University in Tennessee. She was women's coach from 2021-23 at Big Game Wrestling Club in North Liberty and was assistant coach at Grand View College in Des Moines in 2021-22.
Iowa State also announced men's assistant Brent Metcalf has been promoted to men's head coach. Kevin Dresser, who was the men's coach for nine years, will transition to a new role overseeing the men's and women's programs as director of wrestling.
Pollard announced March 3 that ISU would drop women's gymnastics immediately and add another women's sport. Pollard cited a run of internal issues that prompted the decision to shut down the women's gymnastics program.
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