Schreiner to move wrestling team to DIII
Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, will be moving its NCWA men’s wrestling team into Division III competition for the 2021-2022 season. The women’s team will also be a Division III program as women’s wrestling transitions from Emerging to Championship sport status in the NCAA over the next few years. Schreiner added wrestling for the 2018-2019 season and the men’s team has competed in the NCWA Championships. The women have recently competed in the NCWA, WCWA, and National Collegiate Championships.
The school first announced plans to start wrestling in the fall of 2017, and where they would compete was an immediate question. Schreiner is the only school in their conference with a wrestling team, and the nearest DIII programs are quite far away. University of the Ozarks is 614 miles away and all other schools are 800 miles or more from Kerrville. The team has competed against NCWA schools and non-DIII schools primarily in Texas and Oklahoma, with occasional trips further afield. They will likely adjust their schedule to get some more DIII competition before heading to a to-be-determined regional.
The announcement said that Schreiner will be the first NCAA wrestling team in Texas, but that is not entirely accurate. Schreiner will be the only current NCAA team in Texas, but ten other NCAA schools in the state have previously competed in wrestling, including current DIII schools Southwestern and LeTourneau (according to the Mat Talk Online Dropped College Wrestling Teams database)
Schreiner University Wrestling To Join NCAA Division Three (wrestlingtexas.com)