A sea of red filled an entire section of Xtream Arena on the final day of the inaugural NCAA Women’s Wrestling Championships in Coralville, Iowa. North Central College — a Division III school in Naperville, Illinois — had taken over.

The “Fear the Bird” shirts were unmistakable. So were the chants any time a Cardinal wrestler was on the mat. Wrestlers, parents, and fans united with one mission: cheer North Central to victory.

“There will be a lot of barking birds up there,” North Central coach Joe Norton said before the tournament. “We’re birds, and we bark. I think people take that personally and think we are barking at them. We’re not. They’re barking at our girl on the mat and calling her a dog. For the folks who are upset, that’s the explanation. 

“They’re going to be loud. They’re going to be obnoxious. They’re going to be the loudest team here. They’re going to be wearing all-white shirts on Friday and all-red shirts on Saturday. If you’re on another team, you’re probably going to dislike them. It’s not personal. It’s just them being supportive and competitive. That’s synergy. We wrestle better together than we ever would individually, and that’s what makes us great. That cheering section is the most important thing we do.” 

North Central wore white "Fear The Bird" Shirts on Friday of the national championships

That cheering section will be gone if we let North Central join the Division III-only championship during the 2027-28 season. Norton has stated publicly that he wants to compete in the D1/D2 tournament (athletic scholarship schools) and will gladly finish second, third, or 10th as long as his team gets a crack at McKendree (D2), Iowa (D1), Grand Valley State (D2), Presbyterian (D1), Lehigh (D1), Colorado Mesa (D2), and King (D2).

North Central will undoubtedly have strong support at the 2028 NCAA Division III Women’s Wrestling Championships. However, the main event, featuring Olympic champions Jordan Burroughs and Sarah Hildebrandt as commentators and the one on ESPN, will lack the largest and most passionate fan base in women's college wrestling.

And that’s a mistake. 

"We wrestle better together than we ever would individually, and that’s what makes us great." -- North Central coach Joe Norton

Yes, D3 programs need to split from D1/D2 at some point, but it feels too soon after what we just witnessed. There are only eight Division I programs, compared to 40 Division II and 77 Division III. 

We need to stay unified, at least for now. 

D3 Wartburg finished 11th with three All-Americans, and the Knights had the third-best fan base behind North Central and Iowa. D3 Simpson College, led by former Iowa two-time NCAA champion and Iowa City native Jeff McGinness, had two All-Americans. 

Both teams proved they can compete against the best of the best. 

North Central won the all-divisions National Duals this year by besting Iowa and McKendree, then finished third behind them at the 2026 NCAA Championships. 

North Central has finished 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, and 1st at the past four National Duals.

North Central has finished 1st, 2nd, 2nd, and 3rd at the past four national championships.

2026 All-Americans From Division III Programs

The Cardinals proved they belong, and Norton will do everything possible to compete at the D1/D2 NCAA Championships.

“It’s always going to be a fight,” Norton said. “It’s always going to be a battle in terms of resources that other D1 and D2 schools have that we don’t. 

“When it splits off, I realize I’m in the minority, and it’s our own selfish reasons. We understand we can compete at this level — at least for now, and a majority of other Division III programs can’t. We understand the reason for it and why 99 percent of Division III schools want that.

“When we make an argument for ourselves, the best thing we can do is to say we are the best team in the country, or the second or third best team in the country. Winning the National Duals was step one. Competing to win the NCAA Championships is step two. Then it’s having conversations with the right people to see if it’s feasible. Is it possible? The women on the team want to do it. The coaching staff wants to do it. What’s it going to take, and how do we make it happen?”

This year’s NCAA Championships featured 18-woman brackets. It felt like a 24-woman bracket, or even 21, would have been enough for D3 programs to stick around for a while. 

Either way, we need North Central to compete against the big schools. And we need their fans. 

Women’s college wrestling needs to make noise. The silence of a national tournament without North Central will be deafening.