Credit to the kids, they made it happen

We’ve heard in great detail about just how much havoc rain played on the state softball tournaments last weekend in Kootenai County.

No, it wasn’t drawn up to play with no consolation rounds, crews scrambling to get fields ready once the rain stopped, and playing until well into the night on Saturday.

Wasn’t that fun, everyone?

BUT BELIEVE it or not, rain also was a factor in last Friday’s state 5A and 4A track and field meets at Eagle High, with organizers scrapping most field events due to nasty weather in the area. Kudos to the kids in the 3A, 2A and 1A meets at Middleton High, they got those events in.

On Friday, one of the only field events that was completed was the boys 5A long jump, with Lake City’s Jacob Schnatter finishing third at 21 feet, 2 3/4 inches and Logan Jeanselme fifth (20-11 3/4) in the event.

“Anytime you’re third in state, it’s fantastic,” Lake City coach Kelly Reed said. “I think Jake might have been a little disappointed, but he was fantastic. Logan is such a hard worker, it was nice to see him have a good day. I was really happy for him.”

Jeanselme was seeded ninth in the event.

“Coach (Brian) Fulp has done a great job with our jumpers this year,” Reed said. “It was really fun to see him have a good day.”

Once the rain went away on Saturday, it opened up chances for others to shine.

Due to Friday’s rain, Post Falls senior Tyler Trengove had to compete in the triple jump and high jump on the same day.

“I was a little worried with the rain that he’d wear himself out,” Post Falls coach Wade Quesnell said. “He did the triple jump first, and actually had a PR (personal record) at a little over 45 feet (45-1 1/2). Then he walked over to the high jump and did what he had to do.”

Trengove cleared 6-8 to win the event for the second straight year.

Quesnell also praised the efforts of Anayah Brown, Jenna Gardiner, Bailey Shanahan and Leah Holding in the relays. All told, counting individual events, that group brought home eight medals.

“It was a really good job by that group,” said Quesnell, whose team was fifth in the 4x800 and sixth in the 4x200 and 4x400. “It’s a really good accomplishment for those girls.”

AFTER WINNING in its tournament opener, Lakeland came up short twice, falling to Bishop Kelly 4-1 in the state 4A third-place game at Vallivue High in Caldwell on May 18.

“Bishop Kelly had one inning where they played some small ball,” said Lakeland coach Jason Bradbury, whose team allowed all four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. “And topped with a couple of errors on our part, they put up four unearned runs. It was just too much for us to come back on.”

Considering that players from the north had to fight the snow, rainouts and whatever else came up when others from around the state were already outside, you could have said this spring might have been way too much to fight back from.

Credit to the athletes up north, they got up, brushed themselves off and kept going.

Even when it seemed like it might never happen for them.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.