The Denver Post – February 19, 2011
Boy: Religion won’t let me wrestle girl
By Luke Meredith, The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa — After a standout season in which he went 35-4, Joel Northrup had every reason to dream of winning an Iowa wrestling championship this year, but he gave it all up before his first state tournament match Thursday.

Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who competes for Linn-Mar High School, said his religious beliefs wouldn’t allow him to wrestle Cassy Herkelman, a freshman from Cedar Falls who is one of the first two girls to qualify for the tournament in its 85-year history.

Northrup issued a statement through his school expressing his “tremendous” respect for what Herkelman and Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black achieved this season but said he didn’t feel he had a choice.

“Wrestling is a combat sport, and it can get violent at times,” Northrup said in the statement. “As a matter of conscience and my 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.”

Northrup’s decision to default put Herkelman in the quarterfinals in the 112-pound weight class, and it put her name in the record book as the first girl to win an Iowa state tournament match. But it deprived her of the chance to show the skills that earned her a 20-13 pre-tournament record.

Because he defaulted and didn’t forfeit, Northrup was allowed to compete in the consolation rounds, and he won his first match later Thursday by major decision. He was spared any chance of meeting up with Black — who also wrestles at 112 pounds and was 25-13 entering the tournament — when she was eliminated after being pinned in both of her matches.

Northrup and Herkelman would be matched up again if both were to make the finals in the consolation bracket. If that happens, Northrup would likely make the same decision, said his father, a minister in the Believers in Grace Fellowship.