Wrestling Has More HS Athletes Per College Spot
Wrestling Has More High School Athletes Per College Spot than Any Other NCAA Sport
Posted Yesterday, 05:08 AM
It has been many years since I have run the numbers and I thought I should check again. Yep, it is still true; Wrestling has more high school athletes vying for each spot on a NCAA team than any other sport. This is a good point to bring up when colleges are talking about when collage ADs are talking about cutting or expanding sports in their programs and they have the notion in their heads that "wrestling is a dying sport."
2013/14 MEN NFHS: WOMEN NFHS:
NFHS NCAA NCAA NFHS NCAA NCAA
Baseball/Softball 482,629 32,635 15:1 365,711 18,618 20:1
Basketball 541,054 17,812 30:1 364,297 16,643 22:1
Bowling 25,751 1,155 22:1
Fencing 2,189 593 4:1 1,774 625 3:1
Field Hockey 61,471 5,670 11:1
Football 1,093,234 69,847 16:1
Golf 152,647 8,441 18:1 72,172 4,981 14:1
Gymnastics 1,995 300 7:1 19,231 1,695 11:1
Ice Hockey 35,393 3,832 9:1 9,150 2,009 5:1
Lacrosse 2,336 2,716 1:1 81,969 9,916 8:1
Rifle 2,000 417 5:1 1,168 378 3:1
Rowing 2,544 2,683 1:1 4,242 7,337 1:1
Skiing 9,999 423 24:1 9,404 420 22:1
Soccer 417,419 22,956 18:1 374,564 25,672 15:1
Swim 138,373 9,368 15:1 165,779 11,910 14:1
Tennis 160,545 7,787 21:1 184,080 8,603 21:1
Track/XC 906,518 87,238 10:1 763,132 50,399 15:1
Volleyball 52,149 1,705 31:1 429,634 16,818 26:1
Water Polo 21,451 967 22:1 18,899 1,812 10:1
Wrestling 269,514 6,653 41:1
Total 4,291,989 276,373 16:1 2,952,428 184,661 16:1
Sources: NFHS Participation Report and U.S. Department of Education Equity in Athletics Data Analysis
http://www.nfhs.org/ParticipationStatics/PDF/2013-14_Participation_Survey_PDF.pdf