Like many high schools across the U.S., Lebanon High School in central Missouri used to have three or four girls among the dozens of boys who came out for the wrestling team each year. But most girls declined to sign up for the awkwardness and difficulty of grappling against boys.

When Lebanon High started a separate wrestling team for girls last year, however, “our numbers, they jumped big-time,” said Randy Roark, the school’s longtime coach. The Yellowjackets saw 30 girls turn out for the sport, and capped the season by winning Missouri’s first girls state high school wrestling tournament.

Statewide, girls wrestling turnout jumped to nearly 1,000, an eightfold increase from the year before. The surge startled organizers but continued a nationwide trend: As more states launch wrestling championships for girls, participation soars. It increased by more than 4,500 girls, or 28%, last season alone, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

This winter, more than half of U.S. states will have a high school wrestling tournament for girls—either an official one, a pilot test or one run by a coaches’ association.

Girls are bolstering wrestling at a time when it and other high school sports are stagnating. They’re also reinvigorating a sport nearly bounced from the Olympics six years ago.