LOVELL (WNE) — Big Horn County School District No. 1 in Cowley recently followed the Lovell school district’s footsteps, also approving a girls wrestling program.

Female students are currently able to wrestle, but the sport is a coed event in Wyoming, with female and male athletes facing off on the mat.

The approval of female wrestling in Wyoming would create a female bracket in tournaments, guaranteeing that female wrestlers can compete against female wrestlers.

Rocky Mountain High School wrestling coach Daniel Robertson presented the change as a safety issue. 

“This is basically about creating a better chance for [female wrestlers] not to be beat to death,” Robertson told the board. Robertson argued that the current setup damaged both male and female wrestlers in the state.

“There’s no upside in the boys in this,” Robertson said, “and the girls incur additional risk.”

Asked about whether the potential impact to girls basketball and other winter sports would make the establishment of a female wrestling program undesirable, Rocky Mountain Middle/High School Principal Tim Winland said the pros will likely outweigh the cons.

“It’s hard to state how it would impact other sports,” Winland said. “But, it could provide an additional program for a student who is not participating in anything else. It’s better to have students participate in something than nothing.”

Girls basketball head coach Eric Honeyman echoed Winland’s statements.

“If girls want to wrestle, they should wrestle,” Honeyman said. “I don’t think it would harm us if we supported it.”