Cedar Falls girls 51, Dubuque Senior 32

The Cedar Falls girls' basketball team improved to 5-2 on the season after defeating Dubuque Senior on Dec. 9, 51-32. Kaz Brown scored 16 points to lead the Tigers, while Imonee Qualls added 15. Katie Sommer led the Rams with 8.

Recent activity/Growing a Lotus

It's been a while since I sat down and actually blogged about things personally, so here it goes:

During the week of Thanksgiving, I had a session with Mary, the owner of Field of Yoga, and I wanted to do that session around John Friend's Growing a Lotus course. She came up with a syllabus that combined his course with the teachings of Lilias Folan. From Folan's workings, Mary decided to add some elements that would help with my hip opening beyond what Friend teaches. She used a couple of terms that I forgot, but basically it allows the hip joints to heat up first, then be opened.

As a quick summary, this sequence involves a move called chakravakasana, which is moving from cat/cow pose (all fours with a back arch) into child's pose, or balasana. Many yoga classes has this move as a warm-up, only with this sequence, my knees are displaced, one is about a couple inches behind the other, and the movement is in an arc on the side of the knee that is in back. After about six reps, I hold about halfway back for six breaths and repeat on the other side.

After that, I do a bowing low lunge, with uttanasana (standing forward bend) after each side's set. Then I do a sequence where I start in prayer chair pose, revolved chair, revolved side angle in prayer position and revolved triangle on each side. Next I do a sequence of three-legged down dog (tri pada adho mukha svanasana) with a straight leg, then bending the leg, arching my back over the base leg, then Vasisthasana (side plank) with the top foot on the base leg like in tree pose (Vrksasana). Mary wants me to try to incorporate a "cradle-baby" variation, where I take the top foot and cradle it in front of me to open the hip more, however after three breaths in the tree variation, my bottom arm starts to shake. I guess I need to build up strength in my arms. That's the main reason I cannot do a handstand (Adho Muhka Vrksasana).

After that sequence, I do a headstand (Sirshasana) and shoulder stand (Salamba Sarvangasana), followed by a backbend, either cobra (bhujangasana), bow (dhanurasana) or locust (salabhasana), and then go to seated hip openers. Mary didn't include that in my sequence, but I feel I need Sirshasana and Salamba Sarvangasana to complete my practice, and between Vasi (as Mary likes to call it) and the seated postures was the best spot I can think of putting it. Before I do those sequences, I go into an easy cross-legged position and do some isometric exercise, where I press down on the knees with my hands as the knees press up. I do that a total of four times, twice with the left shin in front, twice with the right.

I have two seated sequences. First includes variations of pigeon (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana). First, I stretch forward with the front leg at a wide angle and foot flexed, and then I twist my upper body toward the bent knee, and I try to grasp by back foot with the opposite hand. Once in a while, I feel a cramp in the hamstrings when I bend up that back leg. After that, I swing the back leg around to the front and do what Mary calls a "bird wing" stretch, where I put the bent leg's ankle atop my straight thigh above the knee, keeping the foot flexed and knee pointing outward. I then bend over and grasp the extended foot and bend as forward as I can. The focus is to help the bent knee move out and down to open the hip. I can get that knee just below the top of the straight leg on each side. I repeat this sequence on the other side, and then I do what is called "double pigeon" or "fire log" (Angistambhasana), where the shins are parallel to each other where the feet are as close to the knees as possible, one atop the other. Then it's a forward bend. I try to do that twice with each leg atop the other, so a total of four times.

After that sequence, I do a sequence that includes "cradle baby" and "through the needle" stretches. I start by bending one knee vertically and the other across the thigh in a pigeon-like formation and leaning on my hands behind me. After six breaths, I grasp my foot with the opposite arm, in the crook of the elbow, straighten the other leg, and hug the leg into my chest, as if I'm holding a baby. Then I lean back as far as I can, working my back to the floor and my bent leg toward the chest as much as I can, keeping the other leg straight. I can almost get straight with my right leg held, but I'm a bit less with my left. Next, I move the held foot to its opposite hip joint for a lying tree pose in half-lotus, trying to work my knee as far to the floor as possible without hurting it. The bottom of each leg can just about break the plane of the top of the opposite one. After that, I do the "through the needle" stretch, where I put the bent leg back atop the opposite thigh and then grab the back of that thigh through the bent leg and pull toward my chest as much as possible. With my legs in the same position, I do a twisting variation, where I swing my legs so the foot of the bent leg is resting on the floor on its opposite side. After that, it's what is called Brigid's Cross, where I extend the leg that was bent over the opposite thigh and then twist so that leg is underneath me and I lie on my front with arms outstretched. After a few breaths, I get up, straddle my legs and bend forward between them. Then it's corpse (Savasana) and a short meditation.

I think I'm making some progress, as I mentioned in a few places. One thing where I see progress is in Angistambhasana. When I started the sequence with Mary, I could only comfortably put my feet to mid-shin. The last two days, I can now get them to my knees. I also feel that in pigeon, my groin is getting really close to the floor, maybe about an inch or less. My left knee, which I injured in May 2010 when I tried to force a lotus, isn't hurting as much when I do any bent-to-the-side poses. However, I feel I'm still a ways away from getting into full Padmasana.

Then Mary asked me why I feel so strongly about being able to do Padmasana. I had to think for a second. First, I told her about how I read that Padmasana was found by ancient yogis to be the best cross-legged seat for meditation. As the feet are atop the thighs, the legs are locked in position, which helps calm the mind and body for meditation. Also, I said it would allow me to be able to do some more advanced variations of some asanas. Not just headstand in lotus or shoulder stand in lotus, but also other asanas that need open hips, like full twist pose (Purna Matsyendrasana).

Mary told me I should really think about this, and even journal my feelings. The more I do this, the more I feel I should be able to do it. Other than openness of my hips, I do think another obstacle to doing Padmasana is the thickness of my thighs. It's not that they're muscular, because there is a bit of muscle there, but there's quite a bit of subcutaneous fat in there. If I can just reduce the size of my thighs, Padmasana might not be too far behind.

Today, I met with my psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Conditt, and the journaling came up. I was trying to figure out whether to do it here or have a notebook. I mentioned Jill's blog, so I figured since I can post on here and maybe some people who know about this thing might give me some relevant feedback. Dr. Conditt said I might also get some bozos who also give me crap. I figured I could delete the bad comments.

Anyway, Mary is going to start some new classes after the first of the year, including one called "Bootless Camp." My year away from regular classes is about to end, so I'll have to talk with her about this. Maybe during my next private session we'll discuss this, or we can meet sometime outside of the studio. I feel I know what I need to do, plus I did well when her teacher, Karina Ayn Mirsky, was in town last month, so I think I can get back into regular classes.

Well, as always, I'll keep plugging.

A real-life Hamburglar

I don't know if many of you have heard of this yet, but there was a real-life Hamburglar that broke into, of all places, a McDonald's. Overnight Saturday into early Sunday, Whitley Teslow, a Wartburg College student, had a little bit of a late-night food craving after having a few drinks in the downtown Cedar Falls bars, so he went to the Micky-D's on First Street. However, that location closes at midnight, so when he went to the drive thru window, no one answered.

Allegedly, Teslow broke the forward drive-thru window and climbed into the restaurant. He fired up the grill and frier and cooked himself a burger, some fries and had a drink. He's even shown pumping ketchup in one shot. After he was finished, he left through the same window he broke to get in. Odd thing is, there was another McDonald's location two miles away near the intersection of Main Street and University Avenue that is open 24 hours.

Teslow now faces third-degree burglary, fourth-degree criminal mischief and fifth-degree theft. The most serious charge, burglary, carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and $7,500 fine. I guess this will turn out to be a truly unhappy meal.

Bettendorf 35, Cedar Falls 7

The No. 6 Cedar Falls football team ended its season in the Class 4A semifinals Friday night, Nov. 11, with a 35-7 loss to Bettendorf in the UNI-Dome.

Barkley Hill ran for 65 yards before being knocked out of the game in the third quarter with a left-leg injury. Ike Boettker, who was sidelined for three weeks with a back injury, returned to the line-up and threw for a touchdown to James Harrington.
The Tigers end the season with an 11-2 record. Bettendorf will face top-ranked West Des Moines Valley next Friday in the Class 4A title game.

Janesville beats Bellevue Marquette in 5 sets

The Janesville volleyball team will return to the Class 1A state volleyball tournament after defeating Bellevue Marquette in five sets, 20-25, 25-17, 26-24, 20-25, 15-9, at West Delaware High School.

The Wildcats had 20 kills by Kendyl Sorge, followed by 10 from Shelby Shnurstein and Natalie Brace. They will face Trinity Catholic of Fort Madison in the first round of the state tournament Nov. 9 at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

Cedar Falls 21, Iowa City High 7

The sixth-ranked Cedar Falls football team reversed its fortunes Monday night against No. 9 Iowa City High in winning the second round of the Class 4A football playoffs, 21-7, in the UNI-Dome.

After giving up two touchdowns in the first minute of last year's quarterfinal game at Bates Field in Iowa City, the Tigers were able to keep the Little Hawks out of the end zone until very late. City High was 1-for-5 on fourth-down conversions, while Barkley Hill paced the Tigers' rushing attack, gaining 149 yards and scored two touchdowns. Brayden Longnecker added a six-yard score to break the ice.

The Tigers will play Friday night at Kingston Stadium in Cedar Rapids in the quarterfinals against Cedar Rapids Washington, a 28-26 upset winner over eastern-half top seed Linn-Mar in Marion.

CVYSA Dyno-Mites, Select academies end fall session

The Cedar Valley Youth Soccer Association held the final practices for the fall session for the Dyno-MItes U6 and CV Select U7-8 academies on Oct. 16.

The Dyno-Mites held their usual activities, while the CV Select Academy held a round-robin 4-on-4 soccer tournament.

Author's Note: The wind was howling out of the northwest at about 40 miles per hour that afternoon, and into the camera's microphone. The interview with Dyno-Mites director Kathy Bering could not be heard, so a transcription of a simultaneous audio recording was used for the subtitles.

Iowa City West 21, No. 1 Cedar Falls 10

The Iowa City West football team handed top-ranked (Radio Iowa and Des Moines Register) Cedar Falls its first loss of the season Friday, Oct. 21, 21-10, to win the Valley Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference in the UNI-Dome.

Cedar Falls dropped from a No. 2 seed in the eastern half of Class 4A to a No. 4 seed to face Muscatine in the first round of the playoffs Wednesday in the UNI-Dome at approximately 8:45 p.m.

I, however, will be covering the Waverly-Shell Rock-Webster City Class 3A first-round game Wednesday night.

ABC show, local fair board hold fund-raiser

The design crew of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" -- Ty Pennington, Paul DiMeo, Tracy Hutson, Sabrina Soto and Jeff Dye -- along with Larson Construction of Independence, the National Cattle Congress and rocker Bret Michaels helped raise a large amount of money for the Audrey Gibbs family of West Union Thursday night, Oct. 6, 2011, with a community event on the NCC grounds.
There was an auction and raffle that raised the bulk of the money, while the audience was entertained by an exhibition truck pull, lawnmower races and demolition derby. Pennington told the crowd how Gibbs would be surprised by the support they have given the family, and Michaels also told of his personal connection to the Gibbses.

No. 1 Cedar Falls 55, Dubuque Wahlert 21

The top-ranked Cedar Falls football team won its homecoming game Friday, Sept. 30, over Dubuque Wahlert, 55-21, in the UNI-Dome.

Barkley Hill had four rushing touchdowns, while James Harrington had two scores, one on a 71-yard punt return and the other on a 16-yard pass from Ike Boettger. Shawn Hagarty (29-yard interception return) and Ben Challgren (23-yard catch) also scored touchdowns.

Cedar Falls High School homecoming coronation

Cedar Falls High School crowned Elizabeth Kosmicki and Brady Cervetti as the homecoming queen and king for 2011 on Sept. 29 in the Clair C. Stanard Auditorium. Kosmicki's reaction was one of stunned disbelief, while Cervetti was cool about his win.

Do It for Don 5K raises $6,200

More than 100 runners, walkers and other supporters helped raise more than $6,200 in the Do It for Don 5K run to benefit C.F. High girls' cross country coach Don Williams at Birdsall Park Sunday.

The runners braved the rain to run the boys' cross country course, with proceeds from free-will donations helping to pay Williams' medical bills after his Aug. 31 bicycling accident.

Cedar Falls 42, C.R. Jefferson 6

The Cedar Falls football team continued in its dominace Friday night, Sept. 16, with a 42-6 victory over Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
Barkley Hill had five touchdowns, Jacob Fagersten had a 36-yard field goal, and the Tiger defense recorded two safeties in the victory to improve to 4-0 on the season.

Rich Engel Classic

The Cedar Falls boys' cross country team won the annual Rich Engel Classic it hosted Thursday, Sept. 15 at Birdsall Park in Cedar Falls.
The Tiger girls were runners up in their competition behind Cedar Rapids Kennedy. The individual winners were runners from Waverly-Shell Rock -- Anna Holidman in the girls' race and Daniel Huff in the boys' run.

UNI sweeps Iowa State in volleyball

The 15th-ranked UNI volleyball team swept No. 12 Iowa State, 26-24, 25-16, 25-18, in front of a school record volleyball crowd of 6,490 in the MacLeod Center Tuesday, Sept. 13.

Camera on the fritz

It's been a while since I've posted a personal message on this blog that has nothing to do with work. Of course, I put some of my more interesting stories and highlight videos on here so that more people can see them outside of Northeast Iowa or those who would happen to visit the Community Media Group websites.

Anyway, here's what's going on...

About a month ago, I was trying to cover the girls' soccer match between Cedar Falls and Iowa City West on a Tuesday night. For that reason, I brought my Canon Digital Rebel XT still camera and my JVC Everio video camera with me to the Vinton Newspapers office, so that I can go straight to the match in Waterloo from work. (The Cedar Valley Soccer Complex, where C.F. High plays its home soccer matches, is officially in Waterloo, just less than a mile from the southeastern Cedar Falls city limit next to a John Deere plant.) The weather was fairly warm (OK, it was pretty hot, reaching about 90 degrees in early May), so the heat in my car could have affected things. Bottom line was, my camera couldn't power up. Sometimes when it did, the display on the back of the camera would say "Err 99."

Anyway, I get home, put the battery in the charger, and the next day, I check it out. It worked. I just chalked it up to an undercharged battery. It was working OK for a while until about two weeks ago. After taking some pictures at Waverly-Shell Rock Junior High on their last day of school, I went to cover a baseball game at Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo between Independence and St. Ansgar. This time, the autofocus wouldn't take. Later, I tried it at home, and it was working. The following Tuesday night, I went to Independence to cover a girls' soccer regional semifinal between the Mustangs and Decorah, and it still couldn't auto focus. In both situations, I went with the manual focus. I later cleaned off the leads to the lens on the camera body with a tissue. It started focussing normally, so I was able to get shots of C.F. vs. Mason City girls' soccer last Wednesday night and Columbus vs. Clear Lake at Denver Friday.

Sunday night, though, I was making sure the camera would power up after charging the battery all weekend. It didn't do anything. I tried it again early Monday, and the same thing. I texted Pat, our sports editor, and he said I could borrow a spare camera he had (a Canon EOS 20D) that he usually lets his father use until I can get mine fixed. I used it for Monday night's girls' soccer between Columbus and Denver and last night's softball doubleheader between C.F. and West High.

Today, I took it to Porter's Camera Warehouse Outlet store to see if it indeed was a battery issue or if there's something worse. Well, a clerk tried charging a new battery, and even though the new battery was 50% charged, the camera still didn't read it. So now, it's being sent to a Canon service center. Right now, it's going to cost me about $260 including tax. Hopefully they can fix it without it costing much more, or else a new camera might be in the works. That can be in the neighborhood -- body only -- of $500 to $600 for a camera similar to mine.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. At least with the loaner, I can do my job.

Cedar Falls 2, Mason City 0 in girls' soccer

BY ERIC VANSICKLE -- The Cedar Falls girls' soccer team advanced to the Class 3A regional soccer finals against Ankeny, played Monday, June 6, with a 2-0 victory June 1 over Mason City at the Cedar Valley Soccer Complex in Waterloo. Allie Wirth scored a goal and had an assist on the other, scored by Justine Powell.

French freestylers visit Cedar Falls

USA Mat Club hosts exhibition dual with France’s best 16, 17 year olds

By Eric VanSickle

CEDAR FALLS – Some wrestling fans don’t think May is prime for a wrestling dual, but members of Cedar Falls’ USA Mat Club hosted an exhibition with some very special visitors May 3.

The club hosted the French Cadet National Freestyle Team in the C.F. High gymnasium for a series of 17 matches in front of a few dozen supporters. The unofficial team scoring had the USA Mat Club winning, 42-33.

The semi-informal exhibition paired the male wrestlers with those close in weight, while the four female wrestlers – Iowa City West's Jasmine Bailey and C.F.'s Cassey Herkelman and France’s Julie Sabatie and Manon Calliaud – wrestled two matches, switching opponents. All of the French boys had two matches, with Alexis Malezieux having three.

The French team is making a tour of the U.S., participating in USA Wrestling-sanctioned freestyle tournaments and a few exhibition duals. This trip was postponed from last year, when the volcano in Iceland prevented intercontinental travel between Europe and North America.

Ibrahim Selloum, the French team coach, said the tour has gone very well so far and he, the other coaches and wrestlers are enjoying their stay.

“We’ve had very good training and competitions,” Selloum said. “With (USA Mat Club director and C.F. head wrestling coach Wil Kelly), we’ve had very good contact.”

For most of the French kids, it’s their first visit to the U.S. Selloum said one wrestler participated in a tournament two years ago in Chicago.

He added the wrestlers themselves like America.

“Their way of life is very good,” Selloum said. “The competition… we can fight (wrestle) with the guys with other good guys, and afterwards, we can speak with them with civility.”

Freestyle wrestling is somewhat similar to what wrestling fans see during the high school season, but with some glaring differences. The most noticeable difference is the scoring and the match structure.

In FILA (International Wrestling Federation) rules, matches are best-of-three, two-minute periods. When a wrestler wins two periods, he or she wins that match, unless a pin fall is scored. Like folkstyle wrestling, a pin is an instant win, no matter the current score or what happened in prior periods.

Also, when a wrestler amasses a 6-point lead in either period, that period is over and the wrestler is given the victory for that period. It’d be similar to a technical fall in folkstyle, but the match continues if it’s the first period won.

There are also three officials in FILA-sanctioned matches – the referee, mat judge and mat chairman. They can award anywhere from 1 to 5 points for certain moves either wrestler performs, and two of the three must agree to the score.

For example, the referee would hold up two fingers for one wrestler when he exposes the back of his opponent. The mat judge can either agree by holding up the same colored paddle with a “2” or a different score, or the white paddle for no score. If they disagree, the mat chairman would break the tie by either awarding the score the referee suggested or the one from the mat judge.

During the meet, the USA Mat Club’s two girls each earned splits, both beating Calliaud – Herkelman by pall in 1 minute, 35 seconds, and Bailey pinned her in 20 seconds – but Sabatie won both of her matches by decision – 4-0 and 3-0 over Bailey and in three periods over Herkelman, 3-0 in the final period.

Selloum said his staff and wrestlers have scouted and game planned for Herkelman, the first Iowa girl to qualify for and advance in the traditional state tournament back in February, after seeing her in a pair of tournaments over the weekend.

“I’ve seen her wrestling men, and then see her wrestling against French girls,” he said. “We studied her video, how she wrestled. We analyzed that she lifted her left leg (when making a move).”

Kelly noted Sabatie is one of the best cadet girls’ wrestlers in Europe, winning a pair of medals in continental competitions.

“It’s a real opportunity for her to compete against (some of the best),” he said.

Club coach Zhang Fan appreciated how Sabatie and Calliaud faced Herkelman.

“Cassey is always facing tough talent,” Zhang said. “This French girl today did a very good job.”

C.F. junior 189-pounder Zach Rahnvardi also had a split on the evening. He beat Quenton Milliere, 2-1 and 5-1, but France’s Jordan Noblet earned an 8-0, 6-0 win later.

Other victories by USA Mat Club members included Dan Kelly, Sam Dagit, Max Thompsen, Christian Miller, David Langley and Jack Hathaway.

Selloum said the USA Mat Club wrestlers performed well against his squad.

“I’m surprised with the level of the talent,” he said. “Cassey is a very good wrestler.”

Wil Kelly said the experience the local wrestlers had against the French is invaluable.

“It’s a great experience for our guys to get an opportunity to compete internationally, but have it here locally without leaving the state,” Kelly said. “That’s always a great opportunity.”

He added the differences in styles between FILA freestyle and IHSAA folkstyle gave the local wrestlers a great learning experience.

“These other guys (from France), they’ve been training freestyle all year long,” Kelly said. “We’ve got to train between two or three different styles. There’s definitely an adjustment for our kids. I think they did well.”

Zhang said the locals did a very good job against the French visitors.

“These kids have made great progress, and have challenged the (French national) team,” Zhang said.

USA Mat Club (C.F.) 42, France 33

Alexis Malezieux (FRA) win over Brendan Alexander (IA) 9-1, 6-0
Julie Sabatie (FRA) win over Jasmine Bailey (IA) 4-0, 3-0
Cassey Herkelman (IA) win over Manon Calliaud (FRA) Fall 1:35
Dan Kelly (IA) win over Adama Sow (FRA) 7-2, 7-0
Stephane Heyer (FRA) win over Clark Doyle (IA) 4-1, 7-0
Sam Dagit (IA) win over Achille Reggiani (FRA) 3-0, 3-2
Jordan Noblet (FRA) win over Ty Robertson (IA) 7-0, 6-0
Zach Rahnavardi (IA) win over Quentin Milliere (FRA) 2-1, 5-1
Alexis Malezieuex (FRA) win over Cody Lange (IA) 8-0, 8-0
Julie Sabatie (FRA) win over Cassey Herkelman (IA) 0-4, 3-1, 3-0
Jasmine Bailey (IA) win over Manon Caillux (FRA) fall :20
Max Thompsen (IA) win over Adama Sow (FRA) 8-2, 4-1
Stephane Heyer (FRA) win over Dylan McGlauflin (IA) 4-4, 3-2
Christian Miller (IA) win over Achille Reggiani (FRA) 7-1, 6-3
Jordan Noblet (FRA) win over Zach Rahnavardi (IA) 8-0, 6-0
David Langley (IA) win over Quentin Milliere (FRA) fall 1:10
Jack Hathaway (IA) win over Alexis Malezieux (FRA) injury def

Independence 5, NU High (Cedar Falls) 1

Tori Zasadny scored two goals and had three assists in the No. 10-rated (Class 2A) Independence/East Buchanan girls' soccer team beat NU High (Cedar Falls), 5-1, at the University of Northern Iowa club fields Thursday night.

Cedar Falls 13, Waterloo East 0

The Cedar Falls boys' soccer team had 11 different players score in a 13-0 dominating victory over Waterloo East.

Tigers win Cole Collinge Relays

The Cole Collinge Relays were held at George Hauser Field at Cedar Falls High School. The host Tigers outlasted Waverly-Shell Rock for the team title, 126-107, by winning three of the final four events (distance medley, 4-by-100 and 4-by-400). Both C.F. and the Go-Hawks won six events.

New working arrangement

Well, I'm all done (for the most part) as interim editor of the Independence Bulletin Journal. They've found someone else, Ben Frotscher, to be the full-time editor, however our publisher, Deb Weigel, and managing editor, Anelia Dimitrova, have given me another opportunity. I'm back to being assistant editor of Hawkeye Racing News, and that means I'm back to traveling to Vinton four times a week. But also, I'm on the payroll for sports for both the Cedar Falls Times and the Bulletin Journal.

It's about time I'm employed full-time with benefits and all in the journalism game after six or seven years after leaving the Britt News-Tribune and Forest City Summit. I've been with the Times as correspondent since 2008, so I've paid my dues. It's time for me to take this and run with it.

Update on Cassy Herkelman

At the suggestion of my friend Jill Lavender (jills-thrills.blogspot.com), I'll give my views on here about the Iowa state wrestling championship that ended yesterday.

The above video, made by the Cedar Rapids ABC affiliate KCRG, talks about the match Thursday between Cassy Herkelman, the girl I featured in late November for the Cedar Falls Times, of Cedar Falls and Linn-Mar's Joel Northrup.
Northrup decided, due to his religious make-up, he could not find it in his conscience to wrestle a girl. However, the other 13 boys in the Class 3A 112-pound division had no qualms with wrestling a girl (there are 16 wrestlers who qualify, two of them in Class 3A at 112 were girls, Cassy and Ottumwa's Megan Black).
Because Northrup decided to default, not only was Cassy the first girl to qualify for state (Black qualified about an hour later), but she's the first to advance to the quarterfinals. Of course, she lost Friday to Matt Victor of Indianola in the quarters, 5-1, and then Jordan Jones of Des Moines North/Hoover pinned her in 1 minute, 21 seconds.
I wrote in my column in the Independence Bulletin Journal that appeared in yesterday's edition that I thought Northrup should have faced her, because if it were me, gender doesn't matter. It's another wrestler.
However, Northrup issued a statement that said the following:
"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 other high school sports in Iowa."
He's right ont he last part, though. Iowa doesn't have a separate division for girls in high school wrestling. If a girl wants to wrestler interscholastically in Iowa, they must wrestle boys, unless she happens to draw a girl in either a dual meet or tournament.
In my feature, the Herkelmans told me only three other boys refused to face her. Northrup had two opportunities to face her: once in a dual meet in Cedar Rapids, which he did not participate, and Thursday.
It's sad, really. This girl's accomplishments of making one of the most prestigious tournaments around has been tempered by someone who refused to wrestle her.