Idaho girl golfer can still play with the boys

BOISE (AP) - The board that oversees Idaho high school sports won't bar a female golf champion from playing with the boys' team if not enough girls turn out to form a team of their own.

A proposed rule change that would have blocked Sierra Harr's participation emerged over the summer at the Idaho High School Activities Association after she helped the Castleford High School boys win the 2012 championship for Idaho's smallest schools.

Harr, a 16-year-old junior, says the debate came up after rival coaches complained.

Association executive director John Billetz said Wednesday there was just a single vote in favor of the rule change at a meeting in Coeur d'Alene. Billetz said the 11 board members voting in the majority concluded Harr's situation happens so infrequently, it didn't merit a big change.

"Nothing has changed, everything is back to the way it was," he said.

If enough girls turn out to form a Castleford girls' team in 2013, Harr will play with them.

If not, she can still compete for a spot on the boys' team.

Before the vote, lawyers who work on discrimination cases in sports also told the AP that federal Title IX provisions would likely make the proposed rule change illegal because barring Harr from the boys' team, in the absence of a girls' squad, would deny her access to equal educational opportunities.

Billetz said there was no discussion among board members about Title IX before their decision.

"The bottom line was, this is something that was just like an anomaly," he said.