NCAA
Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Cassy Lopez first woman to sign wrestling scholarship

NCAA - Other

Baltimore-area high school student Cassy Lopez made history Thursday by becoming the first woman to receive a scholarship to wrestle at a Division I school.

Lopez signed a national letter of intent for the newly formed women's wrestling program at Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, which will start competing alongside 38 other schools in the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association in 2019.

"I'm extremely happy and grateful to have received this opportunity to wrestle," Lopez told The Baltimore Sun. "It has sunk in, definitely, and I am really excited to see how it grows now that Division I programs are starting to open up."

Lopez went 29-19 for Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City, Maryland, as the school won a regional duals championship and advanced to the state duals final for the second time in program history. She became the first woman to win the Maryland State Wrestling Association's Triple Crown by capturing titles in folk style, freestyle and Greco-Roman and was one of 80 entrants in the first Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association women's state tournament.

Lopez's next step is attending Presbyterian, which announced in December that it would become the first Division I school to sponsor women's wrestling.

"She's already made history," said Mark Cody, the director of wrestling at Presbyterian. "We expect her to be a pioneer for this program, as well as the sport."

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