The Douglass High School wrestling program has been discontinued at least for this season, said the school's athletic director Tina Queen.

"Basically, it's because of a lack of participation," said Queen, who made the decision. "Our ninth grade enrollment is down and it is hard to recruit for the team if you don't have the kids to recruit. It had nothing to do with money. In Baltimore City we are making great strides. If we had the participation, we'd have the sport."

Queen said Douglass has added swimming and Indoor track teams over the last two years and she thinks those teams have also pulled students away from wrestling.

"I'm hoping we'll have a bigger ninth grade class next year and we can have wrestling next year," she said. "Once we get kids into the wrestling program the retention rate is good."

Wrestling coach Cordell Hunter, who was facing a rebuilding season with just three wrestlers returning from last season, including Selena Jimenez, said he had only from five to eight students come out for this year's team.

"It's hard to recruit when you're the coach and not in the school to recruit," said Hunter, who is a counselor at the Chesapeake Center for Youth in Brooklyn. "I wish we could have kept them in training and then participated in the postseason tournaments, but that wasn't an option."

The current wrestlers are expected to become part of the swimming and indoor track teams, both Queen and Hunter said.