The Mizzou Women’s Wrestling Club is taking some big strides heading into their first full season of competition as a member of the NCWA. The good news for the newest collegiate women’s wrestling team in Missouri, they won’t have to travel too far to seek out first class competition among the various other Missouri programs that will be hosting events throughout the season.
The ladies will kick off their competition schedule with one of the deepest early season tournaments, the Missouri Valley Women’s Open. Including the Mizzou women, there are nearly fifty teams scheduled to attend this 2-day event. Out of the teams currently listed on the tournament profile page, there are 14 of the top 20 ranked teams in NAIA (pre-season rankings released October, 2026), 9 of the top 25 teams in NCAA (pre-season rankings released October, 2026), along with several NJCAA schools, and one NCWA Southwest Conference opponent in Tarleton State. Tarleton State is coming off a very solid season winning both the Southwest Conference tournament championship and the NCWA National tournament team title. This event is scheduled to kick off on Friday, November 13.
After the Missouri Valley Open, the Lady Tigers will have nearly a few weeks off of competition to allow for Thanksgiving Break. Afterwards the Lady Tigers will travel to the currently ranked #14 team in the NAIA, Doane University, and will compete in the Women’s Connor Oppenheim on December 4th in Crete, Nebraska. There are currently nearly two dozen teams registered along with Mizzou including several of the currently ranked NAIA schools besides Doane.
After the Women’s Connor Oppenheim the Mizzou lady wrestlers will have a quick turn-around and travel to the Avila Lady Eagles Open in Kansas City. This tournament may not have as many teams listed as the first two, but it doesn’t mean it will be easy by any stretch of the imagination. The mixture of NCAA, NAIA schools will provide a good close out the first semester of competition for the Lady Tigers. Roughly half of the teams currently listed are among the pre-seasoned rankings in their respective divisions.
After Christmas break, the Lady Tigers will then travel to the other side of Missouri to the Missouri Baptist Open on January 15th. The Missouri Baptist Open last year featured quality teams such as McKendree and the Indian Hills CC teams. Also, like with many open tournaments any number of unattached wrestlers will most likely show up, like in years past at this event that will strengthen the overall event.
After the Missouri Baptist Open, the Lady Tigers will take a month off from competition to get ready for the Jimmy May Open, hosted by Baker University, in Baldwin City, KS. One February 13th, 2027 the Jimmy May Open will offer some familiar opponents that the Lady Tigers might have seen earlier in the year such as Missouri Valley and Central Methodist. This tournament also currently features a handful of NJCAA schools that would make this particular tournament a good late-season challenge for the Mizzou wrestlers.
After Valentine’s Day weekend, the Mizzou Lady Tigers will be honing in on their skills to prepare for their first collegiate post-season experience through the NCWA. As stated earlier, they were placed in the Southwest Conference and that tournament is scheduled to take place in the defending national champion’s campus (Tarleton State) in Stephensville, TX. This tournament will take place on March 6th and will run simultaneously with the men’s conference tournament. There are a total of 19 teams/universities in this conference, many of them are familiar faces for those who follow other Mizzou sports and their current/former conference affiliations. SEC schools such as LSU, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, and Texas along with the Big 12 school Kansas State are all fielding women’s club teams to help round out the field.
Should any of the Mizzou Women qualify for the NCWA national tournament, they will take another trip down south to Bossier City, Louisiana at Brookshire Grocery Arena March 18-20, 2027. The qualification process is similar to what the Mizzou Men’s team has had for decades. Each conference will be allotted a certain amount of automatic bids per weight class, and based on a wrestler’s placement they will receive that bid. There are also wildcard (at-large) bids available and will be announced by the end of the conference tournament, who those wrestlers are.
It will be interesting to see how this young team will be able to compete against the well-established collegiate teams of Missouri as well as some of the best this country has to offer. If you are interested in following the Mizzou Women’s team you can check out their schedule (See picture) and follow them on their official social media accounts (links below).
Facebook: Mizzou Women’s Club Wrestling
Instagram: Mizzou Women’s Club Wrestling