THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Dec. 17, 2014

If there isn't snow on the ground by the time you pick up your newspaper today, you can be guaranteed you'll see some by this weekend.

With some 60 of the top teams in the Northwest coming to North Idaho College for the 43rd annual Tri-State Invitational, there's always at least some snow on the ground by the time the championship matches unfold on Saturday night.

As well as some really good wrestling.

SOME AREA wrestlers got plenty of momentum going into this weekend last week with strong showings in competitive tournaments in the Spokane area.

Post Falls finished second to Moses Lake - another team likely in the championship mix at Tri-State - at the Inland Empire Classic at Central Valley, with four wrestlers winning championships.

Conor Shepherd and Killian Estes of Lakeland won their respective weights at the Inland Empire as well.

"It was a great warmup tournament for them," Lakeland coach Rob Edelblute said. "It (Tri-State) should be a good challenge for them. They've got great momentum and hopefully they can carry that forward."

Lake City went 5-0 to win the West Valley duals tournament, with two wrestlers - Michael Carr and Zion Dixon - winning each of their matches by pin.

"The entire team wrestled really well," Lake City coach Corey Owen said. "The kids are off to a great start this season and wrestling with some confidence right now, and it's fun to watch."

Confidence will get some people pretty far this weekend.

In some cases, and there's been a few over the years, some of those wrestlers competing under the championship spotlight have wound up continuing their careers at NIC before moving on to another school.

For those that like to look ahead to stuff like that, where teams are heading and with who, there might not be any other place you'll want to be.

WHEN FORMER Montana coach Bobby Hauck resigned after the season at UNLV - along with the retirement of coach Mick Delaney at Montana - it seemed like a done deal that Hauck was on his way back to Missoula.

Not quite.

Bob Stitt - not Beau Baldwin like some had hoped - or Hauck, or Ty Gregorak (the husband of former NIC volleyball coach Kandice Gregorak) was announced as the coach on Tuesday.

Stitt went 108-62 in 15 seasons at the NCAA Division II Colorado School of Mines, qualifying for the playoffs this season, where his team was eliminated in the first round.

Baldwin said a few weeks ago that he had no interest in the Montana job, and with his Eastern Washington team seeming to make it to the FCS semifinals on a yearly basis, why leave?

A few years ago, the road to the FCS playoffs often had stops in Missoula.

Now, everyone's seeing red - and for good reason.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.