By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

Post Falls has run into this numbers game before.

A team down south with way more qualifiers to the state wrestling tournament, in part because its district had way more state berths up for grabs.

And the Trojans still prevailed.

Post Falls has won three straight state 5A titles, and five of the last six. The Trojans qualified 20 to state, including four wild cards on Sunday. Meridian, considered the pre-tourney favorite to win its first state title since 1987, qualified a whopping 29 from its District 3 tournament last week.

"We have been fortunate in the past to overcome some teams who had a numbers advantage," Post Falls coach Pete Reardon said. "That said we aren't focusing on numbers, whether ours or another team's. Every year we put emphasis on kids giving their best effort. When kids do this good things tend to happen. We're sticking to this plan and we'll see what happens when the dust settles."

The dust will settle more quickly at this year's state tourneys, scheduled for the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. All four have been condensed to one-day affairs, rather than two- or three-day events, due to COVID-19 precautions.

The 5A and 4A state tourneys are slated for today, with the 3As and 2As on Saturday.

Time schedules are the same each day — Round 1 begins at 8 a.m. PST, Round 2 at 10 a.m., the semifinals at 12:45 p.m. and the finals at 5 p.m.

That means a potential state champion will wrestled four matches in one day — and other state placers could wrestle more.

Lake City coach Corey Owen didn't think that would have an effect on his three regional champions in particular — Zach Macdonald (98), Matthew Whitcomb (182) and Logan Parson (285).

"Conditioning is not going to be an issue for them," Owen said. "Wrestling four matches in a day is going to make guys tired, and the guys in good shape, that’s going to affect them less."

5A: Post Falls is led by senior Ethan Miller (160), a returning state champion who placed third as a sophomore.

Seniors Roddy Romero (120) and Lane Reardon (145) were state runners-up last year for the Trojans.

Seniors Ryan Graves (132) and Isaiah Laguna (220) were each third last year and sophomore Zack Campbell (98) sixth.

Coeur d'Alene coach Jeff Moffat thinks the Vikings can challenge for a trophy (top-four finish).

"No. 1 is really out of reach except for Meridian," said Moffat, whose Vikings qualified 17. "But anything can happen. I think (places) 2-3-4 is up for grabs between four or five teams — Kuna, Post Falls, Highland, Coeur d'Alene, maybe Thunder Ridge. Someone's going to have to put together a near-perfect tournament to beat (Meridian). But I've seen crazier things happen."

Kuna moved up to 5A this year after winning the last two 4A titles.

Coeur d'Alene junior Gunner Giulio (170) is bidding for his third state title. So is senior Drew Roberts (152), and his second in Idaho at Coeur d'Alene.

Senior Rylan Rogers (195), originally from Clarkston, and who wrestled the last two years at Blair Academy in New Jersey, is 11-0 in his lone season as a Viking. Rogers has been heavily recruited, recently listing his final six college choices as Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon State, Oklahoma and North Carolina State.

Rogers, who won a national prep school championship last year and is ranked No. 2 in the nation at 182 pounds by TrackWrestling, is only the No. 2 seed at state this week, behind Jovon Howe (21-0) of Idaho Falls.

Junior Christian Kelly is a two-time state placer at 98 for the Vikings. Senior Jackson Kohal (285) was third last year at state, senior Nolan Randles (145) fourth, junior Mason Keough (138) fifth.

Though Coeur d'Alene, fourth last year, might not have the depth of the other contenders, the Vikings certainly don't lack for quality.

"State’s a different animal," Moffat said. "The tougher the tournament, the better we'll do, because we have three or four kids who can go deep in the tournament."

Whitcomb is bidding for his second straight state title. Macdonald was fifth last year at state as a freshman, and Parson lost in the match to be a placer each of the last two years.

Sophomore Blaine Leonard (120) placed fifth last year at state for Lake City, which qualified seven.

4A: Lakeland coach Rob Edelblute said the Hawks, who qualified 14, have the potential to bring home a trophy. He lists Nampa and Jerome as favorites.

"Team wise, we're going to be competing against teams that have some numbers," said Edelblute, whose Hawks qualified xx to state. "But when you're only taking so many, and teams from south have 20, those kids have all got to carry their weight."

Riley Siegford (145) was third last year for Lakeland, and John White (182) was sixth.

3A: Junior Trevor Cady (220) placed sixth last year for Timberlake, which finished third last year. The Tigers qualified 12.

2A: Senior Sam Martin (138) placed third at state last year for St. Maries, which qualified 11. Senior Dylan Sotin (120) and junior Kyle Sibert (195) each placed fourth, and senior Delbert Lambson (285) was fifth.

“This year, it’s been different for sure,” said St. Maries coach Dennis Humphrey, in his ninth season. “We haven’t had the pressure on us because we knew that the rug could have been pulled out on us for the season at any time due to COVID. But the kids are resilient and came through it maybe better than the coaches and parents did.”