Fargo champ Georges commits to Columbia
Columbia’s first varsity women’s wrestling team will have a three-time state champion and a Fargo champion on its roster.
Olivia Georges, who is spending the 2026-27 school year at Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey, has committed to Columbia. Georges won three New Jersey state titles at DePaul Catholic and captured a Junior women’s national title at Fargo in 2025. She finished last season ranked No. 3 at 170 pounds in the High School On SI national girls rankings.
Columbia announced in June that women’s wrestling will become its 32nd varsity sport, and the Lions will begin varsity competition in the 2027-28 season. That puts Georges in line to be part of the first varsity team in program history.
Georges didn’t waste any time making a name for herself at DePaul Catholic. She won a New Jersey state title at 145 pounds as a freshman in 2023. As a sophomore, she placed third at 145 pounds in a season in which she dealt with a fractured radius and a torn UCL.
She was back on top as a junior in 2025, going 18-0 and winning her second state title at 145 pounds.
That summer, Georges claimed the 155-pound title in the Junior women’s division at Fargo. She fell behind 2-0 in the finals on a pair of step outs against Blair Academy’s Sarah Henckel, then scored 10 straight points to win 10-2.
Georges moved up to 165 pounds as a senior and went 24-1. Her only loss came at the Beast of the East in December against Wyoming Seminary’s Ciyanna Okocha. She didn’t lose again, closing her DePaul Catholic career on a 20-match winning streak.
Georges pinned or teched her way through the first three rounds of the state tournament. In the finals on March 14 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, she scored a takedown about eight seconds into the match and rolled to a 17-6 major decision over Central Regional’s Liliana Alicea. Georges finished the match with four takedowns and two reversals.
The title made Georges the first girls wrestler from Bergen or Passaic County to win three state titles, as well as the first three-time champion in DePaul Catholic history. She was one of three wrestlers to win a third state title that day, along with Hanover Park’s Gabrielle Conte and High Point’s Ella Poalillo.
“I’m really proud of myself for winning,” said Georges after the finals.
Wrestling is a family affair for the Georges. Her younger brother, Max, qualified for the state tournament as a heavyweight as a sophomore this past season.
“She’s like the best sister you could ever ask for,” said Max.
Georges returned to Fargo this summer and moved up to 170 pounds in the Junior women’s division. She reached the third-place match, where she fell 11-5 to Chanute’s Kiley Dillow of Kansas, and placed fourth to earn All-America honors for a second straight year.
Georges will join a Columbia program that is making history. The Lions will be the first Ivy League school to sponsor women’s wrestling at the varsity level, and women’s wrestling is the first varsity sport Columbia has added since men’s and women’s squash in 2007. The university has established a $10 million endowment to support the program, which will compete in Levien Gymnasium.
Columbia’s inaugural varsity team is expected to carry about 30 athletes. The program will build on the Columbia Women’s Wrestling Club, which grew into one of the nation’s top collegiate clubs with more than 25 student-athletes each year. The club continues to compete through the 2026-27 season.
Emma Randall, who has led the club since 2021, is the program’s first varsity head coach. Randall also heads the New York City Regional Training Center women’s freestyle program. She was an assistant national coach for USA Wrestling’s women’s freestyle program from 2014-18, served on the Team USA staff at the 2016 Olympics and was named the 2023 National Women’s Developmental Coach of the Year.
Georges will also be joining a school with deep wrestling roots. Columbia’s men’s program, established in 1903, is considered the oldest collegiate wrestling program in the country.
Before she gets to New York City, Georges has one more year of competition at Blair Academy. Her coach at DePaul Catholic, Rickey Redd, summed up her approach after her third state title.
“She tries to get better every day,” said Redd.
For a full list of high school commitments, check out HerMat’s college commitment list.