Thu Feb 17 01:03pm EST
For first time, Iowa girl wins a state wrestling match ... by forfeit
By Cameron Smith
On Thursday, a girl won a match at the most historic high school state wrestling tournament in the country, but she did so in an even more unusual and controversial way than most had imagined possible.
According to the Cedar Rapids Metro Sports Report, Des Moines Register and Associated Press, among other outlets, Cassy Herkelman, one of two girls who qualified for the Iowa state wrestling tournament, won the opening match in her Class 3-A, 112-pound classification by forfeit when her scheduled opponent, Joel Northrup, officially reported and withdrew from the bout, earning a loss but ensuring he could continue to participate in later matches at the tournament.
Northrup, a sophomore at Linn-Mar (Iowa) High, cited his personal faith as the motivating force for his forfeit. The withdrawal ensures he can finish no higher than third at the tournament, which follows his third-place finish in the 103-pound classification as a freshman.
"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan [Black] and their accomplishments," Northrup said in a statement given to the media following his official forfeit. "However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times.
"As a matter of conscience and faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa."
While girls have been allowed to compete as part of boys wrestling teams in Iowa for more than two decades, the 2010-11 season marks the first time that any girls have qualified for the state tournament. In addition to Herkelman, who you can see wrestling in the video above, fellow 112-pound wrestler Megan Black is also competing at the historic state tournament.
When Northrup's forfeit was made official, Herkelman, a freshman at Cedar Falls (Iowa) High was summoned to the middle of the mat and her arm was raised aloft, as you can see in the picture above, signifying the first official victory for a girl at the Iowa wrestling championships.
Though there was plenty of reason for disappointment, Herkelman's father, Bill Herkelman, told the Des Moines Register that the family harbored no ill will toward Northrup whatsoever.
"My understanding is that they've got strict convictions [as a family], and I respect them," Bill Herkelman told the Register. "I don't have any ill will toward them and I don't think it's any kind of boycott about [Cassy Herkelman] being a girl."
In a subplot that could prove to be as intriguing as the initial forfeit, it's possible that Northrup -- who entered as the No. 5 seed in the 112-pound classification -- will be faced with an identical scenario later in the tournament. With Northrup working through the loser's bracket following the forfeit, he will be forced to face off with the losers of other matches later in the event.
If Herkelman or Black, who wrestles for Ottumwa (Iowa) High, lose in the early rounds of the event, they would enter the same bracket that now features Northrup, meaning that there is an outside possibility that the Linn-Mar sophomore would be paired against a girl again.
Another forfeit would all but end Northrup's tournament altogether, though it would hardly generate the attention or notoriety that his initial forfeit gained, given its history-making role in the annals of Iowa high school sports.
Source:here
This is a great case of a teen-age mangina. Is this kid going to bow down to women his whole life? Looks like we have another Joe Biden on our hands.
3 comments:
Teen cows should not be matched in athletic events with young men. Wrestling is a body to body contact sport, and is totally inappropriate for teen cows to be participating with young men.
In anohter article I saw a young man who refused to participate with a female opponent. Good for him.
How is it good for him? All he learned was to defer to women. First he bows down in the wrestling ring then next he bows down again when he and a female are up for a job promotion. What does that teach women? That they can invade male bastions and nothing will happen to them. That they can get in these wimpy male's faces and these wimpy males will do nothing. That's what it's teaching them. How about female bastions such as field hockey? In a lot of areas men are still banned from participation in it even though these same areas allow female participation in male sports. Let's end the hypocrisy.
Funnily, this same article was linked to on an atheist site, where the blogger was of the opinion that him refusing for religious reasons was a bit silly. I have to agree that I would have liked him to fight her. If she was good enough to be there, why not? I guess it's mostly the fact that men are simply not used to the idea, because it's not widely done. I think that played more into his decision than religion.
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