Washington isn’t Iowa

TACOMA — The same week that controversy stole the spotlight at the state wrestling tournament in wrestling-mad Iowa, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association crowned 12 girls as state champions in the Tacoma Dome.

That would be 12 more female wrestling champions than you’r

e going to find in 45 of this country’s 50 states.

And what we can take from what happened in Iowa, where a sophomore boy refused to wrestle a girl, giving away a chance at a state title, and from what happened here, where a girls tournament was celebrated equally with the boys tournaments going on around it, is that our state has gotten it right when it comes to high school wrestling.

Washington is one of just five states along with Hawaii, Texas, California and Tennessee that sanctions girls wrestling. It was the second state, after Hawaii, to make girls wrestling an official sport, and by doing so Washington avoids situations where a boy or girl is placed in an awkward situation if he or she doesn’t feel comfortable wrestling someone of the opposite gender.

And much more importantly, the WIAA’s decision to support and promote girls wrestling creates another chance for more high school-age kids to compete, excel and learn life lessons through sports.

The WIAA, like any well-meaning organization, makes mistakes from time to time — Archbishop Murphy football’s 2007 forfeiture because the school didn’t notice one player had an expired physical while coach Terry Ennis’ was dying, comes to mind — but in this case the people running high school athletics in this state deserve credit for being ahead of the curve on girls wrestling.

Starting in the late 1990s, the WIAA started hearing more and more from girls who were interesting in wrestling and their parents, said Jim Meyerhoff, assistant executive director of the WIAA.

The exponential growth in girls wrestling eventually led to an invitational tournament being held at state, and for the past five years, it has been a WIAA sanctioned sport. Many of the 1,013 high school girls wrestling in the state of Washington still compete against boys during their regular season, but the long-term goal, said Meyerhoff, is to grow girls wrestling to where that won’t be necessary.

“We need to have girls wrestling girls and guys wrestling guys,” Meyerhoff said. “But we knew if we just cut it off, then it would never grow. We’re pretty proud of where we are right now. We have the third largest participation numbers in the nation (behind Texas and California)”

“We’re at the point now where we only let girls wrestle guys in the regular season, and that’s going to last probably one more year. We’ve been very careful about this, because if we shut it off too soon, especially in Eastern Washington where the growth is a little slower, if they can’t wrestle guys they won’t have any matches.”

But while Washington and four other states have embraced girls wrestling, many others are still figuring out to do as more girls take up the sport. Iowa’s state tournament in Des Moines became the source of a national news story Thursday when Joel Northrup, one of the favorites to win the 112-pound weight classification, cited his religious beliefs that it would be inappropriate to “engage a girl in this manner” and elected to default his first round match.

Now you can argue all you want if Northrup was right or wrong to refuse to wrestle a girl, but if he truly believed in his heart that it was wrong, well then that’s quite a pickle for a teenage boy who wants to win a state title, but also do right by his religion and family.

By having a separate girls competition, this state and four others avoid putting high school kids — and let’s face it, life is never more awkward than in high school — in difficult situations.

“I definitely like this format better,” said Stanwood senior Whitney Weinert, who placed second at 135 pounds. “It’s a lot more fair competition for us.”

Weinert, like most girls wrestlers, faced boys during the regular season, and while none refused to wrestler her, she could tell some were reluctant to step onto the mat.

“I’ve run into times when they didn’t want to wrestle me, but they did anyway,” she said. “It’s kind of downgrading, but it’s what you have to live with. It’s wrestling.”

Cassy Herkelman, the wrestler in Iowa who won by default, told the Associated Press that having a girls tournament would be a “lot more fun and exciting.”

And this isn’t about one gender being better or stronger or superior to another. Washington’s system isn’t better because it protects girls from the big bad boys. It’s better because it keeps both sides out of no-win situations like the one in Iowa. The girls I talked to this weekend said practicing against boys and facing them in regular-season matches does in fact make them better, but they also admitted that they’re more comfortable facing their own gender. And while very few boys would go so far as to forfeit, plenty are uncomfortable when they do face girls.

“I wrestled one girl, it was freshman year,” said Josh St. Marie, a Glacier Park senior who won the 130-pound title. “I pinned her real quick. I didn’t like doing it, but you get the job done. No, I wouldn’t forfeit a match at state. I would never forfeit a match because it was a girl.”

The consensus among wrestlers here, both male and female, was that a boy shouldn’t refuse to face a girl.

“They’re a bunch of babies is what I always think,” said Stanwood’s Casey Mather, who finished fifth at 103 pounds, and in the past has had boys forfeit to avoid facing her. “I mean, come on. You shouldn’t back out because it’s a girl.”

But again if Northrup really felt it was wrong to wrestle a girl, then that’s a heck of a bind he was in. And in some ways, whether you agree with him or not, it’s noble that a teenage kid was willing to sacrifice something so big as a state title to stick up for his beliefs. The WIAA has gotten it right by making it so no one will have to face such a dilemma. And even better, they have created an athletic outlet for over 1,000 girls and growing.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.