FIGHTLIKE A GIRLBy Sean Keeler

Class 3-A, 112 pound female wrestlers Megan Black, Ottumwa High School, and Cassy Herkelman, Cedar Falls High School, aspire to be great wrestlers and strive to win a state title.

Christopher Gannon

Ottumwa 112-pounder Megan Black laces up her shoes from the floor of Wells Fargo Arena before the Class 3-A first round at the state wrestling tournament Thursday, February 17, 2011 in Des Moines.

When Megan Black got word five years ago that Alaskan Michaela Hutchison

became the first girl to win a state high-school wrestling title against boys, she wept.

Not with joy. Rather, out of frustration. Frustration and the disappointment that history would not wait up for her, that someone else had beaten her to it.

“I was like, ‘Dang it, I wanted to be the first girl to win,’” the sophomore wrestler at Ottumwa recalls. “I just wanted to do it. But that’s all right — I can still be the first girl in Iowa.”

With that, she laughs. For a high-school wrestler in Iowa, February is the stuff of dreams — the bigger the better. The final preamble to the 2011 State Wrestling Tournament begins today at the district level, where hundreds of hopes will be realized while hundreds more wind up cruelly dashed.

In Class 3-A alone, there are at least two girls in the same weight class — 112 —who’ve been turning

heads on the mat: The Bulldogs’ Black and Cassy Herkelman at Cedar Falls High School. Not because they’re female — because they’re tall, tough, savvy wrestlers who also just happen to be girls.

“The biggest thing about her is she’s a gamer. When she gets out on that mat, she’s going to do everything that she can to win,” Cedar Falls assistant wrestling coach Ethan Wiechmann says of Herkelman, a freshman sensation who, according to the National Wrestling Coaches’ Association (NWCA) database, takes a 17-12 record into districts.

“Certain kids have got the killer instinct, and certain kids don’t — regardless of whether they’re male or female.”

By all accounts, Herkelman’s got it. Ditto for Black, a sophomore who sports a 22-12 mark with eight recorded pins, according to the NWCA.

“I don’t think it adds any pressure on me,” Black says. “I don’t think of myself as a girl wrestler — just another wrestler. I want to make state just as badly as any boy out there.”

Officials at the IHSAA say that 39 girls participated in varsity wrestling programs this season. That’s nearly double the 20 that were on record three years ago.

Instead of a grass-roots movement that started in communities and worked its way up, women’s wrestling has started at the top and trickled down. The big breakthrough came in 2004, when it became a medal event at the Summer Olympics.

“Every wrestling coach out there will tell you that wrestling is a sport

Andrea MelendezReferee, Eric Eckerman, raises Cassy Herkelman’s arm as the winner of her 112 match after her opponent, Joel Northrup of Linn-Mar of Marion walked off the mat and would not wrestle her.

Andrea MelendezCassy Herkelman walks off the mat with her coaches after her loss. Matt Victor, Indianola, beat Cassy Herkel-man, Cedar Falls, 5-1 in their second round 112 pound match. Friday at the 2011 Iowa High School State Wrestling. Wells Fargo Arena.

The Start: Iowa High School Ath-letic Association began sanctioning the event in 1926Never Before: No girl has ever qualified for the state wrestling tour-ney. Came Close: Tiffany Sluik at Mason City and Chandra Peterson of Lake Mills came close to the state wrestling tournament within the last decadeThe First: Heather Morley of Urbandale became the first female to get her armed raised in the dual meet state tourney — in 2005, after scoring a pin — but was never able to reach the more prestigious, individual state wrestling tournament.This Year: In Class 3-A, there are two girls in the same weight class — 112 —who’ve been turning heads on the mat: The Bulldogs’ Black and Cassy Herkelman at Cedar Falls High School.

for everyone,” says Terry Steiner, the former University of Iowa wrestler who now coaches the U.S. women’s freestyle wrestling team. “But will they really back that up? When they’re saying that this is ‘a sport for everyone,’ if you’re saying that, then OK, let’s put girls on the team, too. We all believe that this is a great teaching tool; Why wouldn’t we want to educate half the population when we can educate more?”

Steiner makes a heck of a point, but that point can also be a hard sell to many wrestling purists. Texas, California and Hawaii have sanctioned gender-specific girls’ wrestling, but the idea hasn’t caught on in Iowa. Here, if a female wants to compete, she has to tussle with — and beat out — boys.

While Herkelman and Black have never met, the parallels run deep. Black trains regularly with her little brother, Tucker, a teammate on the Ottumwa varsity. Both Megan and Cassy are daughters of former Iowa prep wrestlers who qualified for

state themselves. Some individuals won’t wrestle

Cassy or Megan — although “dodging” has been rare, their coaches say. Fortunately, so has heckling from rival crowds, not that it bothers the girls all that much.

And they’re as physically strong as they are mentally tough: As part of her workout routine, Black climbs a special 18-foot rope —

using arms only, no legs — that her father set up on the family farm near Batavia four times daily.

Matt Black, Megan’s dad, remembers one day last week in which his daughter came home with this wide, knowing smile

across her face.“Dad?” she asked.“What, hon?” Matt replied.“Dad, I dreamed I won districts,

and I got to run over and jump in your arms.”

“That’s pretty powerful,” he says, softly.

The voice quivers and suddenly, Matt stops. This time, it’s Dad who’s tearing up.

“Dad, I dreamed I won districts, and I got to run over and jump

in your arms.” -Megan Black

History of female wrestling

in Iowa