The Mid-Prairie wrestling program is growing.

As a result, the school board approved adding a second assistant wrestling coach during their Monday meeting.

“When I started here 12 years ago, we had six wrestlers at the high school level,” head coach Justin Garvey told the board. “Right now, I have 34 kids signed up for high school wrestling. That includes five females.”

He explained that girls wrestling is a fast-growing sport and that several schools have begun adding all-girls tournaments.

“They are adding those to already existing junior varsity tournaments,” Garvey said. “As we looked at those tournaments, I reached out to several of them, and they were willing for us to bring our girls team, but they don’t have room for our boys junior varsity.

“Our boys are going to have to go compete to the tournaments they normally go to, and we’re going to have to take these five girls to separate places to compete.”

After looking at the logistics of that, Garvey decided he needed more help.

Activities Director Tyler Hotz backed up Garvey’s request.

“Boys basketball has one head and two assistants, and girls basketball has one head and two assistants,” Hotz said. “Wrestling has one head and one assistant. I would recommend that we add a second assistant wrestling coach and review this on a yearly basis to make sure the numbers support it.”

School board President Jeremy Pickard agreed that the numbers support the proposal.

“Boys basketball will have about 35, and girls basketball will have a little less than that,” he said. “The justification is there. This is a no-brainer to me.”

Garvey said he already has a pool of candidates among the team’s volunteers.

“Some of my volunteers have all of their certifications,” Garvey said. “I haven’t picked anyone yet, but I have a lot of possibilities.”