More than 8 million athletes competed in high school sports last year. Where does Pa. rank?

Pennsylvania recorded the fourth-most participants in high school sports, according to a survey released by The National Federation of State High School Associations on Wednesday.

The survey noted that a total of 8,062,302 participants were involved in high school sports for the 2023-24 school year, increasing by over 200,000 from the previous year and besting the previous record of 7,980,886 set in 2017-18. Record turnouts were recorded in both boys and girls sports, and the national trend indicated a growth of over 400,000 participants over the past two school years.

The NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey began in 1971 and was compiled annually through the 2018-19 school year before pausing briefly during the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed aggregating data in its current form at the start of the 2021-22 school year.

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Pennsylvania ranks fourth in number of high school athletes

Among member states, Pennsylvania ranked fourth in terms of participation numbers, turning out 336,946 athletes during the 2023-24 school year. It ranked ahead of Ohio, which totaled 323,117 athletes, and sits behind first-place Texas, which totaled 859,301 athletes that year.

Pennsylvania athletics grew in participation by over 20,000 after recording after recording 316,587 athletes in the 2022-23 survey. That year, Pennsylvania ranked sixth among member states, behind fourth-place Illinois and fifth-place Ohio. Illinois athletics only grew by 5,000 in that span, while Ohio athletics did not see any significant growth or decline.

Watch Pa. high school football games during the 2024 season on the NFHS Network

High school football, wrestling on the rise for girls

Eleven-player football remains the most popular boys sport by sheer number of participants − 1,031,508 players compete nationwide − while placing sixth in the number of schools hosting a football program at 13,788. Football also saw a noticeable increase in participation with girls due to the rise in popularity of flag football. 42,955 girls across the nation competed in flag football, up from 20,875 the previous year. 4,094 girls also competed on 11-player football teams as well in 2023-24.

Boys and girls wrestling also saw a significant jump in numbers last year, with a 25 percent increase since 2021-22 for a total of 291,874 boys competing in the sport. Girls wrestling grew by 102 percent in that same span after recording 64,257 wrestlers in 2023-24.

Track and field the top outdoor sport

Track and field remained the top outdoor sport for both boys and girls, ranking No. 1 for girls (506,015) and No. 2 for boys (625,333) in terms of popularity by numbers and being the second-most popular program among schools.

The other sports rounding out the top 10 for boys included basketball (536,668), baseball (471,701), soccer (467,483), wrestling, cross country (239,381), tennis (157,835), golf (157,174) and swimming and diving (116,799).

The other sports rounding out the top 10 for girls included volleyball at No. 2 (479,125), followed by soccer (383,895), basketball (367,284), fast-pitch softball (345,451), tennis (195,766), cross country (192,969), competitive spirit (181,023), swimming and diving (138,174) and lacrosse (101,204).

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: More than 8 million athletes competed in high school sports last year. Where does Pa. rank?