By: Scott Bentley | C&G Newspapers | Published September 26, 2025
HOWELL — Cleary University is expanding its athletics program to include women’s wrestling and co-ed competitive dance in the 2026-2027 school year, the school announced.
The wrestling team will compete in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference beginning next fall. Women’s wrestling is rapidly growing all over Michigan, and Cleary said it is excited to join the movement.
“With so much momentum building for women’s wrestling across the country, it made sense for Cleary to add this sport,” Cleary Director of Athletics Max Ballinger said in a press release Aug 18. “The growing excitement and interest in this sport made it a logical decision.”
The university has already hired Beth Strom to be the competitive dance team’s head coach.
Strom spent the last 10 years at Concordia University where she consistently made the NAIA Championship finals and was named the 2025 NAIA Coach of the Year.
The program announced that the dance team will offer scholarship opportunities.
Cleary University now offers 22 sports for students and has begun recruiting for these two new additions. If you have interest in joining the co-ed competitive dance team, email coach Storm at bstrom@cleary.edu.