Boise State rewards Petersen

College football: Boise State football coach Chris Petersen has been rewarded after completing another impressive season.

The state Board of Education voted 5-2 Thursday to give Petersen a $50,000 bonus and a $35,000 bump in annual salary after the Broncos compiled a 12-1 record and ended the season in the Top 10 again.

The increase raises Petersen’s overall bonus for 2010 to $125,000.

Petersen earned $1.49 million in 2010.

Athletic director Gene Bleymaier told the board the extra cash will help keep Petersen in Boise.

The board also approved a four-year contract for new Idaho State football coach Mike Kramer with a annual base salary of $135,000.

Associated Press

Wrestler refuses match with girl

Wrestling: An Iowa high school wrestler who was one of the favorites to win his weight class defaulted on his first-round state tournament match rather than face one of the first girls to qualify for the event.

Joel Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High this season, said in a statement that he doesn’t feel it would be right for him to wrestle Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman. Herkelman, who was 20-13 entering the tournament, and fellow 112-pounder Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who was 25-13, made history by being the first girls to qualify for the state tournament.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times,” Northrup wrote. “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.”

Associated Press

Coug Report at spokesman.com

Online: The Coug Report is an online stop for all the Washington State basketball news, photos and statistics.

The latest stories and blog posts are at your fingertips as well as photos from past games. The Pac-10 standings and statistics are available and photos of each player with game-by-game statistics.

Users can access the site from their desktop or from a mobile device at spokesman.com/ coughoops.