KANSAS CITY, Mo.  (uj.edu) —  The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) announced on Thursday that it has come to an agreement with Jamestown (N.D.) to continue as the host of the NAIA Women’s Wrestling National Invitational through the 2021 invitational.

Jamestown will host both the 2020 and 2021 invitationals after a successful inaugural invitational in 2019. The event originally was scheduled for two days, but weather shortened the schedule by a day. Even with the compressed schedule, the institution was able to put together a well-run tournament which crowned Menlo (Calif.) as the champion.

“Jamestown did an excellent job hosting the NAIA’s inaugural women’s wrestling national invitational and put significant effort into making the event special for our student-athletes. We look forward to returning,” said NAIA President and CEO Jim Carr.

The annual event features 250 student-athletes who compete at their respective weight class in a double-elimination, wrestle-back format. Ten individual champions are crowned along with a team champion on the final day.

“On behalf of the University of Jamestown and our local organizing committee, we are thrilled to again host the NAIA Women’s Wrestling Invitational at Harold Newman Arena,” said University of Jamestown Director of Athletics Sean Johnson.  “The opportunity for this tournament to serve as a U.S. Olympic Team Trial qualifier increases the prestige of the event.   Our community has embraced the opportunity to host some of the top student-athletes in the country and we are excited to play a part the continued growth of women’s wrestling.”

Women’s wrestling is the fastest growing sport in the NAIA. The sport has grown tremendously in the past four years from just a handful of institutions that sponsored it to nearly 30 today. Continued growth at this rate could signal the sport’s movement from invitational to championship status in the next few years. Invitational distinction indicates that sport has enough schools to support it, is developing administrative rules and is on the path to becoming a championship.

The 2020 Invitational will be held March 13-14. More information will be posted on jimmieathletics.com over the coming months.