Iowa Wrestler Joel Northrup Forfeits Match … “As a matter of conscience and my faith, I do not believe that it is appropriate …”

Iowa wrestler Joel Northrupt forfeited his match against Cassy Herkelman because as he stated it was a matter of his conscience and faith not appropriate for a bot to engage with a girl in this manner. Northrup is a home-schooled sophomore with a 35-4 record this season prior to defaulting in his match. Cassy entered the tournament 20-13 record. What a position to put kids in. Boys are told from birth to never hit a girl, now they are forced to wrestle them and put themselves in an uncomfortable situation. Its the law of unintended consequences of equal opportunity. VIDEO can be seen HERE.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan (Black, the tournament’s other female entrant) and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times. 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 of the high school sports in Iowa.”

ESPNraises the question, was Northrup more concerned about harming a female or touching one in an inappropriate manner? Good questions. Wrestlers can certainly get into some pretty contorted positions. Many wrestling moves if a highschool kid ever performed on a girl would get him arrested.

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?