<p>Lacrosse is a niche sport played in only 22 of 50 states and at less than 2,500 high schools nationally. College rosters are dominated by players from elite east coast prep schools which are not known for being hot beds of athleticism and toughness. </p>
<p>Wrestling, on the other hand, is immensely popular in the US at the high school level (all 50 states and over 10k high schools have wrestling programs) as well as many other countries around the world. Its ethos is much more blue collar where the virtues of discipline, toughness and honor are central to the sport. In this way, it aligns very well with football as evidenced by recent comments from ESPN analyst and super bowl champion Mark Schlereth who says wrestling was his toughest athletic challenge and best prepared him for his successful pro football career. “Physically, it’s the most challenging sport I’ve ever been involved with and from a pure mental toughness standpoint, nothing beats wrestling. If you look around the NFL, it’s uncanny how many players have wrestling backgrounds.” </p>
<p>The point here is that lacrosse’s ratio of college to high school programs is nearly 10x greater than wrestling, so participating at the college level in lacrosse is much less of an achievement than that of other sports, particularly wrestling. </p>