A single girls’ division will be added to the LHSAA wrestling championships.

(KLFY)-- The ultimate goal in sports is to win a championship, and one woman's sport can now win the chip in their own division.

On Jan. 25 at the LHSAA Annual Convention, high school principals voted 96 to 1 to approve girls’ wrestling as a varsity sport.

A single girls’ division will be added to the LHSAA wrestling championships. With girls’ wrestling now sanctioned, female wrestlers like Deyton Young see more girls in the Acadiana area wanting to wrestle.

"I definitely think it could grow here, definitely by sanctioning it and making that change,” Young said. “I think that was the plan in terms of like them sanctioning that, to encourage more girls to join and encourage more girls to start wrestling. So just changing this is going to have it start growing and is going to skyrocket just with making that decision in itself."

After winning many championships wrestling boys, Young shared whether or not she believes there will be a difference now that she will be wrestling girls full time.

"I definitely don't regret wrestling the boys and starting wrestling how I did and wrestling mostly boys because I feel like it made me the wrestler that I am the way I practice and the way I strive to improve,” Young said. “It doesn't matter who I'm wrestling, if you step on the line, I'm going to give 110% every time, you know."

Two days after girls’ wrestling was sanctioned, Young became Rayne High School's first-ever girls’ state champion, and even now she still looks up to other male and female wrestlers.

"Of course, Jordan Burrow, I took a picture with him, definitely Jacarra Winchester,” Young said. “She's an olympic medalist.”

Trevor Carriere, Young's wrestling coach said sanctioning girls’ wrestling is great for the sport of wrestling as a whole.

"I think it's a great step forward. I'm excited to see the numbers grow. Hopefully we get many girls here at rayne and try it out. It's a step following the rest of the country in the growth of the sport, and I'm just excited to see what happens in the next few years regarding it."

Young also said wrestling is more than just boys and girls competing on the mat.

"Sports in general brings people together, even though it's an individual sport,” Young said. “At the end of day, it is a team like, and so it almost brings a sense of family in that way."

Girls’ wrestling in Louisiana will officially become a varsity sport starting the 2024-25 season.

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