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This is an interesting subject for me, since I actually wrestled at Linn-Mar HS, same school as Northrup. I wrestled for Doug Streicher, the coach, who was also an All-American wrestler under Dan Gable at Iowa. Linn-Mar is a great program and they consistently do well at State tourney. This year they placed 15th, and Northrup was eliminated in his second consolation round match, after 3 overtime periods.
Although I graduated awhile ago, I still stay in contact with the coaches and go into the wrestling room when I'm home around Christmas time. I never met Northrup, and I'm sure it was a hard decision for him, and respect him for standing to his religious beliefs. But, if it were me, I'd have a hard time defaulting at the state tournament. Luckily for me, I never had to wrestle a girl on the mat. My teammates and I always viewed it as a lose-lose situation. If you wrestled a girl and won by a lot, you were viewed as "beating up" on a girl that wasn't very good. If you won by a close margin, you would be dogged by the rest of your teammates as almost losing to a girl. The last option is you lose to a girl, and never live that down; so I can see why someone would not want to wrestle a girl.
Hopefully next year he goes to state and doesn't get in that situation again. He seems like he has a promising career ahead of him.
Mack
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~ Pain is Temporary. Pride is Forever.
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