Wrestling

 

About

Now in its third season of interscholastic competition, Elm Middle School's wrestling program is open to boys and girls in grades 6-8. Forty-five students were members of the team in 2024-25. The program has a no-cut policy.

Unlike Elm's other teams, which participate in the Leyden-Norwood Athletic Conference (LNAC), the wrestling team competes as part of the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA).

This means Cougar wrestlers have the opportunity to test their skiils against athletes from a larger geographic area than usual. It also means the full range of IESA's postseason opportunities is open to Elm wrestlers: regionals, sectionals and state finals. Last year, 11 Cougars advanced to IESA sectionals! 

The 2025-26 wrestling schedule will be finalized in the fall. Any home meets will be held in the main gym of Elm Middle School, 7607 W. Cortland St., Elmwood Park.

Students who participated in a fall sport do not need to submit a new pre-participation physical exam form or a new concussion information sheet if they want to play a winter sport.

Spanning Both Halves of the Winter Season

Because the Cougars wrestle in the IESA, the team's season doesn't conform to LNAC's division of winter athletics into two halves — boys basketball/cheer/poms during December and January, girls basketball/Scholastic Bowl during February and March.

Instead, the wrestling team begins practicing in December, with competitions taking place from January through March. The regular season usually ends in mid to late February, followed by IESA regionals in late February and sectionals in early March. The season wraps up with state finals in mid March.

During 2025-26, IESA regionals will be held on Saturday, Feb. 28, followed by sectionals on Saturday, March 7, and the state finals on Friday, March 13, and Saturday, March 14.